“Do I have to do this?” came Kiko’s typically apathetic tones.

He was standing at one end of the sleek court they normally used for training when they didn’t have access to the school’s gym on campus. Standing opposite of him was Anita, who had her hands on her hips and an amused expression on her face. Both were wearing standard gym clothing, which was basically a t-shirt and a pair of shorts, though Anita’s shirt was sleeveless and her shorts were much shorter than Kiko’s. He had the same sloth-like expression he always possessed whenever he was forced into doing something he didn’t enjoy, which was pretty much anything that required energy or effort. Anita tilted her head and giggled.

“What, are you afraid of losing to me?” she teased.

To this, Kiko laughed and gave her a cold leer. “Quite the opposite, buttercup. I’m afraid that it will be so easy, it won’t be worth the time or energy I’m putting into it. Why can’t you do it, Yarin?” he asked, now looking at the benches along the outskirts of the court, where Yarin, Lilipa, and Ferain sat.

“I already trained with Ferain this morning. I shouldn’t have to deal with both of them, should I?” Yarin replied, his voice as cold and distant as it ever was. Ferain knew this was just how he talked, though sometimes it could come off as bland or emotionless.

“Yeah, ice brain, hurry up and get this over with so we can eat lunch!” shouted Lilipa, who was standing on the bench and waving her fist at him.

“Yeah, pipsqueak? Why don’t you come over here and fight her then, if you’re in such a hurry?”

“Come on, Kiko, it can’t be that bad. Just a round or two, nothing more. We have another team event coming up and I want to stay in shape.” said Anita.

“Don’t you have sparring matches at school for that exact purpose? I just don’t see why I have to deal with this. I never offered to help any of you with your training.” Kiko complained, as everyone should have already expected from him. He stuffed his hands in his pockets and took on his slouching posture. “Well, whining about it won’t get it over with any faster, will it? Come on, then, I’ll let you move first.”

“Are you underestimating me, Kiko Mihari?” asked Anita, now smirking as she lowered herself into a stance.

“You are a level beneath me, Anita.” he replied, paying little to no attention to her whatsoever. “Besides, I’ll have this finished quick enough anyway, might as well let you try.”

Anita scoffed. “Aren’t you unusually confident today.”

“Just being realistic,” he said, shrugging his shoulders.

Anita shook her head before rushing towards him. Her gray eyes began to glow brightly as she charged, and funnels of wind began encircling her arms and hands. She swung her arms in a cross pattern, sending two slashes of nearly invisible air towards Kiko, who still seemed like he was somewhere else. Lazily, he stepped aside and then ducked, avoiding the two blades, but this bought Anita enough time to close the distance. She jumped up, her body almost looking as if it was floating, and when she flipped, she brought her heel down powerfully towards Kiko’s head. Much quicker than Ferain had ever seen this boy move, he had his hands raised and pressed together. As he swiftly pulled them apart, a block of solid blue ice appeared between them, catching Anita’s kick. The block cracked down the middle but Anita was left motionless for just long enough for Kiko to move again.

With a fast movement of his hands, the ice shifted and molded around Anita’s ankle, binding the large block to her leg. Using her wind, she propelled herself backwards and landed a few feet away, her weighted limb hitting the floor first. Kiko had his hands back in their usual places while Anita smirked up at him. A gust of wind encompassed Anita’s frozen leg and it seemed that it was being cut from the inside. Rapidly, pieces of the heavy block were shaved away before finally, the whole thing fell to the ground in four or five sections. She gave several light taps to the ground with the tip of her foot, appearing to test the mobility of it, and smiled again.

“Quite the trick.” she said.

“Hmm.” was all Kiko responded with.

Anita ran forward again, and now her expression showed a hint of seriousness within it. It appeared to Ferain that she had underestimated Kiko before, but now had him figured out. Whether that meant she could win or not, that verdict was still up in the air. Fera had faith in her partner, but she had never seen Kiko truly fight before. Most of the team events that Yarin and Kiko participated in were left in Yarin’s capable hands. Kiko always did very little. There was even a capture the flag event where all Kiko did was sit down against a wall with a flag tied to his arm. On the cameras, it even looked like he had fallen asleep, while on the rest of the screens, Yarin was easily disposing of the other three participating teams. Judging by the differences between his and Anita’s expressions, this would be a very similar thing for him.

Once Anita was reaching her peak speed, she jumped slightly, and went into a slide. One hand was held out behind her to propel her forward across the ground with her abilities, and within a second, she was within striking distance of Kiko. This seemed to catch him off guard, and he started to react, but now, he was too slow. Anita’s hand ceased its constant gusts and at once, she spun while planting both hands against the court. She drove her leg up into Kiko’s body, using both of her arms to push herself off the ground. Her foot found its mark and his body was lifted into the air. A twister of wind followed him into the sky, drilling into his stomach as he continued to rise. Anita spun horizontally and kicked out towards him before landing on her hands and feet. A near-invisible blade flew towards Kiko’s flying figure and connected with its intended target.

He flipped backwards and started falling towards the court. Anita prepared to catch him, afraid that she knocked him out, but just before she could use her powers, Kiko swung his arm and a long wave of ice formed, starting at his location, and descending into a spiral until it encircled Anita. He slid down it like a surfer riding a tidal wave and all Ferain could really make out through the ice was a blurred image of what was happening on the other side. Anita held out her hands in an attempt to catch him in a gust of wind but he was too quick, and then, when he was in striking distance, she shifted into a series of punches. Thanks to the wind around her arms and fists, each hit had more of a striking radius than just where her physical fist was, but Kiko seemed to easily avoid or block every one.

As one of Anita’s final hits made contact with his deflecting hand, her eyes widened in what appeared to be shock or confusion. With a bizarre expression just briefly flashing on her face, she shook it away and fired another punch. Be it due to the shock of the previous second, or just Kiko’s skill, he stepped aside with little issue. In retaliation, he raised a hand towards her outstretched limb, bringing a sheet of ice with it. The solid plate rose from the ground and captured her reaching hand within it. He was now behind her and she swung her other fist backwards like a hammer, trying to catch him, but another pillar rose and caught her again. The icy wave Kiko had left behind began to melt away and shift, turning into a liquid shell that started moving towards Anita’s trapped body. It reached her legs, slithered up her body, and stopped at her neck before hardening into a jagged casing around her. Kiko’s illuminated eyes had a hint of amusement in them as he stood in front of his victim, his hands in his pockets, and his head slouched and leaning close to Anita’s.

“Got anything else to say, Anny? Come on, you couldn't even land a hit.”

“I did hit you.” Anita said, her voice quivering faintly from the chill that must’ve been flooding into her body.

“Did you?” Kiko asked. He stood straight and punched his stomach, where a bunch of shattered ice began falling from underneath his shirt. It crashed onto the ground and seemed to evaporate instantly into a puff of steam. “I didn’t feel it. Like I said before. I won.”

Anita smiled as an unnatural wind filled the gym. Ferain had to hold her hair out of her eyes with one hand while Yarin closed his book to avoid any damage to the pages within the leather bindings. Around Anita was a particularly powerful cyclone that seemed to be building in strength. Even Kiko, with all of his certainty and confidence, retreated back a few steps as the lights overhead began to shift in their hanging fixtures and flicker with each wild gust of wind.

“I didn’t think I would actually have to get serious, but oh well.” said Anita.

When Ferain looked above her partner, she saw a spiraling mass of visible air, growing faster and faster as a funnel formed and descended. She also noticed, upon further examination, that gouges were being cut into the walls and floor of the gym at random. It would seem that every bit of wind in this building was becoming a weapon, a blade to be used as Anita saw fit. The ice that acted as her binding shell was the first thing to go, falling around her in nothing but finely ground shards that appeared to be more like miniature crystals. They all began floating up into the forming tornado, giving it a snowy appearance, and after a second, the snow was no longer an illusion or a trick of the eyes. It actually started to snow inside the building.

“How about we call it a draw before somebody gets hurt?” asked Anita, shaking off the last remnants of icy powder from her right hand.

“I didn’t want to fight in the first place.” Kiko muttered. “Fine, I’ll even say I lost if that ends this faster.” he added while turning and walking back to the benches.

The gales died down at once, and Kiko’s remaining bits of frozen particles all started to instantly disintegrate and disappear. Anita seemed pleased with herself, despite not actually winning, but Ferain suspected that in order for her to actually win, this gym might wind up getting destroyed in the crossfire. That was an expense that neither of them could afford. Well, technically, that wasn’t true. Anita’s family was filthy rich, but she was adamant about only using her family’s money if she absolutely had to. For something like blowing up the gym, she would rather work out a way to pay it off with her own work and funds.

“One to zero, Kiko, remember that.” Anita said as she spun on her heels and beamed at him. “We’ll have to have a rematch sometime later, when we have a more open space available.”

“I would rather not.” Kiko murmured, while scooping up his bag in preparation to leave. “No offense, Anny, but you seem like you’d be too much work to beat. I just don’t have the desire to deal with it again. This was our first and final battle, I promise you that.”

“Where are you going?” asked Lilipa, glaring at her lethargic companion.

“Home. I need a nap after that. That okay with you, Yarin?” he asked, turning to his actual partner.

“I’m not your babysitter. Do whatever you want.” Yarin replied, staring intently at the pages of his once again opened novel.

“I knew you’d see it my way. Later, sparky, airhead, and…” Kiko looked at Lilipa before continuing. “Runt.” he finished, causing Lili’s face to grow scarlet with rage, but Kiko was already making for the door by the time she had readied herself to retaliate.

“Let it go.” Yarin said, as Lili was already preparing to give chase.

Fera was walking over to her partner and offering her a drink of water. “You did great.” she complimented. “I’d never seen you do something like that before.”

“It’s not exactly a trick I can bust out at any given moment. It’s too destructive for any indoor place, and quite frankly, it’s too draining. I might just faint if I take another step.” Anita joked, putting the back of a hand against her forehead and falling against Fera, who instinctively caught her. “My hero.” she sighed.

“You’re so overdramatic all the time.” Fera said, giggling cheerfully.

“Isn’t that one of my best qualities?” Anita asked, moving to stand back on her own two feet.

“Alright.” came Yarin’s voice, accompanied by the closing of his book. “Training’s done for the week. I’ll be busy the next couple of days so I won’t see you again until next Monday.”

“Have a good weekend, Yarin.” Fera said, beaming at him as he grabbed his bag from the floor.

“Bye, Ferain, Anita.” Lilipa said, jumping up and down while waving at them.

“Later.” Anita said to both of them.

Later that night, both girls were side by side in their fairly large bathtub. The bathrooms in the dorms were extremely well equipped, apparently offering the best accommodations for their students. The bathrooms, or Fera’s at least, had a shower, a large tub that was honestly more like a small pool, a toilet and sink, and a storage closet for towels and the like. It didn't have an area for rinsing off like a bathhouse did, but they just used the shower for that if they were dirty enough to need it. It wasn’t like Fera used the tub all that much anyway. She honestly preferred showers, but Anita asked again if Fera wanted to bathe with her tonight, and for some reason, she said yes. It was odd at first, them seeing each other naked, but it only lasted a second before both were in the water. Ferain was sitting with her back against one of the ends, her legs tucked up to her chest, and Anita was in the middle with her chest pressed up against the wall of it, her arms crossed over the marble perimeter. She had her chin resting in her folded arms, sighing as she enjoyed the soothing warmth of the steaming water.

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“See, it’s not bad at all, Ferain, and there’s plenty of room.”

“I suppose.” Ferain said shyly.

Her face was red and her body was hot, and she knew it wasn't just because of the temperature of the water they soaked in. She was never good at dealing with stuff like this. Anything that exposed her body, anything at all that was remotely ‘adult’ were some of the things she had the most trouble keeping a level head about. She rested her chin on her pulled back knees and looked at Anita’s back. Steam pouring out of her ears like an old train engine would not be far from the realm of possibility right now. As she examined the smooth, glossy skin of her partner, her heart began beating rapidly and her eyes shifted downwards on their own, following it down to what lay beneath the water.

“Fera.” Anita said, causing Ferain to start and squeak out a short ‘Hmm?’ in response. “How do you feel about me?” Anita then asked.

“Feel?” repeated Ferain, her brain coming to a complete halt, and her voice rising several octaves to a pitch she had never reached before while talking. “Ummm, I don’t know.” she continued. “We’re best friends, right? I like you a lot, and you like me, so…” She paused momentarily as Anita’s silence soaked in. “Why ask me so suddenly?” she then inquired, her nerves unwinding just a tad bit so that her speech returned to some form of normalcy.

“Just curious. I know we’re as close as friends could ever be. I was simply curious.”

“About?” asked Ferain.

“Nothing. It’s not important. I guess now’s not really the time to bring up things like this either, with everything that’s going on.”

“I don’t quite understand what you’re talking about.” said Ferain.

Anita smiled, though Fera could not see it, and some of her silver hair fell around her face. Anita hummed for a moment, that lovely lullaby-esque tune that was their song, the one that she had made for Fera, and they had sung together all those months ago. Ferain listened silently, intently, and waited to see if Anita would come clean on what was really on her mind. When the music stopped, when the echo of her voice disappeared, when all was silent in the room besides their breathing and the rippling of the water as they moved within it, Anita turned her head so that their eyes met.

“I really like you, Ferain. I told you before that you’re special to me. I guess… I was just wondering if you feel the same way.”

“Of course you’re special to me too, Anita. We’ve been through a lot together. You’ve literally changed my life in a way that I always thought was impossible. At this point, I could never imagine my life without you, now and even in the future.” At once, Ferain felt utterly embarrassed by what she said, and she slid down the side of the tub so that she was completely submerged under the sloshing surface.

Anita laughed at the sight and turned her head back towards the empty room outside of the tub. “I’ll take it, I suppose. I guess I wasn’t exactly all that clear either.”

“What was that?” asked Ferain, coming back up above the water.

“Nothing. We better get out soon or we’ll get all pruned up. We also have that test to study for and I suck at math. Can you lend me a hand?”

“I’m not that great either, Anita. Math is my worst subject. I’m actually pretty terrible with numbers.” Fera admitted.

“Says the scholarship student.” she joked, before standing up. Her whole body was on display and at once, Fera averted her eyes to avoid staring at it. Anita climbed out, began drying herself and then tossed the towel atop Fera’s soaked head. “I’m done, you can look now.”

Fera opened her eyes and saw Anita’s bare front in its entirety. She choked and then ducked under the water again, forgetting the towel was even there. She heard Anita laugh, get dressed, and leave the room before she even attempted to leave the safety of the water. If this was how their relationship was going to be from now on, Fera suspected that it would be far more exhausting than she could have imagined. While drying and getting dressed in her briefs, shorts, and white tank top, she thought about what Anita said during their bath. Now that Ferain was cool-headed and had time to think about it, it almost sounded like a sort of confession.

“Does she… love…” Fera shook her head and buried her face in her towel. “Impossible.” she thought, bringing her face just free enough so that her nose and up were visible in the mirror. Everything below it was still hidden behind her gray towel, but even still, she could see the blush that was creeping up her cheeks. “Was she asking if I loved her too? In the same way even? We almost kissed last month. But that was just her playing around. But what if it wasn't?” This back and forth argument with herself lasted four or so minutes before a knock on the door startled her clear from her thoughts.

“Are you okay in there, Fera? You didn’t drown, right?”

“N-no. I’m f-fine.” she stammered through her response. “I’ll be out in a minute.” she called out, after clearing her throat and steadying her voice. She heard Anita walk away from the door and she looked once more into the glass reflecting her image back at her. “What if I tell her that I love her? What if I say it clearly and honestly? Will she be happy, or will she laugh at me? Maybe she’ll even think I’m disgusting. She might just be implying that we’re like siblings, just like I originally thought. Maybe I’m wrong in thinking that she means something more by it. I don’t want to scare her away or mess up our relationship by making it awkward.”

“Ferain!” came Anita’s yelling voice a minute later, accompanied by a few pounds on the door with a fist. “Studying! Homework! Do you remember? If I have to, I’ll blow that door down and drag you out of there!”

“Coming!” Fera hollered back, before throwing her towel aside and moving towards the door. Like the towel, she left those thoughts in that steam-filled room, or tried to at any rate.

She forgot about them during their study session, but when it came time for bed, they returned, bringing along a restless, uneasy night to go with them. Sorting out her feelings in the night was not an easy task, and when the morning came, she was left with dark bags under her eyes and a restless heart that hadn’t ceased its excited pumping since lying down hours before. It seemed that the harder she tried to push those thoughts out of her head, the more they fought back. Now, she only had more ammunition for them to strive as well, seeing as there was nothing left of Anita that was unknown. Her face turned scarlet for the thousandth time since their bath, and she pulled her sheets over her distraught face and wild hair. Strangely enough, she felt like thrashing around.

This was a temptation that Ferain acted on. She gripped her sheets tight against her chest and rolled back and forth while kicking her legs. Several seconds later, she was sprawled out on her bed, her blanket covering a few random places of her body, while she stared up at the ceiling.

“What’s going on with me?” she questioned, draping an arm over her forehead, which felt hot to the touch. “A fever?” she quietly wondered. Her arm fell back beside her on the bed and she groaned, just before a renewed desire to kick her legs returned. After a couple of kicks, she kept her legs stretched into the air, staring at her toes. Quickly, they dropped back to the bed and a sigh passed her lips. “I’ve never felt like this before.”

A loud knock came soon after, making her soul nearly leap from her body. “Fera, you okay?” Anita asked through the door, sounding concerned.

“F-fine. Fell out of my bed.” she replied.

“Alright. Well, come and get some breakfast whenever you’re ready. I made your favorite.”

“Will do.” Fera replied, before climbing from her bed and walking to the light switch to bring life to the room.

The bulb started out dim but steadily got brighter as she picked out her clothing for the day. She found a pair of light blue baggy jeans with several holes in the legs, a loose-fitting white shirt with short sleeves, the right one of which had trouble staying on her shoulder, and a baseball cap that she got as a gift when she was a kid. It was a bit worn, leaving the black color as more of a gray, and the sewing of the red star on the front had a lifted corner from the stitching coming undone. She put it on backwards, grabbed some white socks, and finished up with the rest of her morning routine, like using the bathroom and putting on the usual black eyeliner that Anita always told her to wear. It was never a lot, just enough to vaguely outline her yellow eyes. Anita said that it helped to make them pop.

“Wow, you look adorable.” Anita gasped, as Ferain left the hallway and came into full view.

“Really? I didn’t think much of it.” Ferain said, examining herself.

“It’s the hat, I think. It really brings that street vibe all together.”

“It’s just some old clothes I had, nothing special.” Fera said, taking a seat at the table, right in front of a plate of eggs and cheese and rice.

“You always undersell yourself. It’s a habit you’ll have to break out of eventually, Ferain.” said Anita, before grinning. “You really are quite the catch, you know?”

“You’re just saying that.”

“Perhaps.” Anita stated, waving her fork around before stabbing it into her mixture of rice and egg. “Ready for our little shopping trip today?” Anita then questioned before taking in a mouthful of her breakfast.

“Obviously. I need to get some new notebooks and pens. I was even thinking about a laptop. That might be better, honestly.”

“What do you even use all of that paper on?” asked Anita once her mouth was clear. “And do you even have enough money for a computer?”

“I’ve been saving most of my allowance all year.” Fera stated. “And, as to what I use the paper for… Well, it’s pretty embarrassing to talk about it out loud.”

“Now I’m more enticed, you can’t leave that up in the air. Spill it.” chimed Anita, leaning forward and planting a hand against the table.

“I write.”

“Write?”

“Uh-huh. I write books… or… short stories? I don’t really know what to call them, seeing as I’ve never finished one.”

“I didn’t know you had a hobby, Ferain.” Anita said, giggling and falling back into her seat. “How come you never told me about it?”

“It never came up. I haven’t done it that much lately, but it’s something I picked up from my dad.”

“Really?”

“Yep. He was an author, though that might be a stretch. He never actually published anything, as far as I know. He used to write little stories for me, ones that he would read as he set me down for bed at night. But he also had a bunch of bigger books finished. They were printed but never actually sold. Truth is, I have a whole stack of them but I can never bring myself to go through them.” When Ferain finished, her bright, remembering smile faded into a gloomy expression that was all too familiar.

“Because of what happened.” guessed Anita. “Why do you bother keeping them?”

“I don’t know. I can’t read them, but I can’t throw them away either. I can never forgive him for what he did, but he’s still my father. It’s hard to explain.” Fera softly muttered, holding a hand to her heart, where the blue crystal of her mother’s necklace was tucked in beneath the shirt. “It hurts to remember him, but I also want to remember him, you know? I hate him, but somewhere down in here, I still love him. As much as I want to discard him forever, a part of me keeps holding onto the memories we used to share before that night. It’s… painful, and difficult.”

“And for somebody like me, unimaginable.” Anita interjected. “I don’t have a great fondness for my parents. How could I when they’re never around? I don’t know anything about them. I don’t have good memories of us playing at a park or going and getting ice cream or something. To me, that pain just doesn’t exist because I never experienced what it was to have a parent that cared about me. To be honest with you, Fera, I don’t envy your position. This might sound harsh, but I’m glad I don’t have to deal with that sort of hurt. I guess it’s one of the few blessings my type of family offers.”

Anita was about to take another bite of her food before setting the fork down on the plate, causing a slight clink to ring out. Fera stared at her curiously, wondering why her face had grown so stern and determined.

“I want to help ease that pain for you.” she said seriously. “We don’t have parents, but we have each other. Whenever you’re feeling down, talk to me, okay? I–” Anita’s words were swiftly interrupted by a loud pounding on their door, causing both of them to jump in their seats. The first four apparently weren’t enough as more came, one after the other.

“I got it.” Fera said, hurriedly moving from her chair and rushing to the door before whoever it was broke it down. When Fera pulled it open, the person she saw there caught her by surprise. It wasn’t necessarily their presence that stunned them, but the way they looked. This visitor had a mess of spiky black hair that stood up everywhere that was possible. Her eyes were a similar yellow to Fera’s, though they had more black and some bronze hues as well, giving them a fairly unique gleam in daylight. She was still wearing the school uniform that every girl wore during weekdays, which didn’t make sense since it was a Saturday morning. What shocked Fera more was that they were tattered and covered in dirt. The girl even had some scrapes and a few already darkening splotches that would be some terrible bruises within a few hours. “Mana? What happened to you?”

“I messed up, Fera. I messed up horribly.” Mana raved, forgoing her usual third-person style of talking, which was more intentional than habitual for the girl so it was understandable in a drastic situation. “Everything went wrong. I don’t know what to do. I need your help.”

“Calm down, take a breath.” Fera said, reaching out for her friend's shoulder.

“Calm down? Ferain, you… I can’t. Look, I really need you. Are you free at the moment? I can explain more while we’re walking.”

Ferain passed an odd glance over her shoulder to see Anita at the table, expecting to see her upset over the meaning of Fera’s look. It was a pleading expression, one that had a mixture of an apology and a request for permission. Anita, as Fera should have expected, understood.

“Go. I’ll ask Lili to come with me or something. Do you need me at all, Mana?” Anita asked.

“Hmm? No, just Ferain. No offense, of course, Anita, I just… I have things to explain.”

“None taken.” Anita said, rising to her feet. She walked over and did something that took Fera’s breath away. Her arms draped around her and Ferain was pulled into a tight embrace. The next thing she did almost made Fera’s heart stop. She felt a light touch of something wet and warm against her cheek. “Be careful, okay? I don’t like this.” Anita whispered into her ear. Fera didn’t have the time to respond before Anita was pulling back, donning the playful smile she always wore in front of other people. “You can borrow her, but I want her back in one piece, alrighty?”

“Yeah, of course. Come on, Ferain, let’s go.” Mana said, grabbing her arm and pulling her out the door.

“My shoes, Mana, wait a second.” Ferain gasped, tugging free and scooping up her boots. She barely managed to slide them on as she hobbled down the corridor towards the elevator. It couldn’t go down fast enough for Mana, who was rapidly touching the button for the lobby, as if that would make it go any quicker. The second the metal doors slid aside, Fera was being dragged once more, out into the streets of District-B, and towards whatever had Mana so riled up.