Tick, Tick, Tick…

Pro opened her eyes and found herself sitting all alone in a row of velvet red seats in a dimly lit theater. The only source of light came from the stage lights hanging above center stage far ahead from the row of seats she woke up in. This wasn't the superdimension but something else--a place too realistic and vivid to be a dream yet Pro's head was light and her consciousness cloudy; standing up and looking around felt heavy and when she tried to utter a word nothing came out.

Then a buzz was heard, an alarm, and the red curtains rose. Sitting center stage in a chair was the mysterious masked girl she had the fortunate or unfortunate pleasure of meeting in Shibuya forest. Motioning once for Pro to come closer she said "Come a little closer. It's hard to talk to you when you're so far.”

Pro was anxious and held distrust deep for this girl and only this girl. The only thing keeping her safe if this girl were to attack was her magic. For now Pro did as she said, moving out of the row of seats and ascending onto the stage. The masked girl stood up and inspected Pro, circling her. "Yes yes… you look capable enough to be the last person I entrust with this power to slay dragons."

To slay dragons was a massive undertaking so much so that it was hard to remember if she and Luka won their battle against the first dragon they fought that day. The way this mysterious girl spoke led Pro to believe she was withholding still, a lot of information about the superdimension from her until the time was right. She rose both hands making a V sign representing the number four. "I'm not sure if you've seen it but the world is in despair because of the dragons and without four heroes of light to stop them I'm afraid it might be impossible for humanity to survive. But I thought 'nothing is stopping me from recruiting four of the most powerful and talented individuals to save the world' and that is why I appear before you."

The theater became dark and darker until everything around Pro was pitch black. She looked up seeing a red and grey butterfly gently floating down. Pro’s movement felt automatic when she held her hand out for the butterfly to land on.

“The truths are becoming shrouded. The lives of many are coming to a close. Will you allow it? Or liberate the world from despair?”

The butterfly wings flapped twice and unfolded into an optical illusion into a contract that Pro only skimmed through. This was a chance to change the world for the better. To finally grow out of the mundane life she lived to stop the suffering of the world. Pro had nothing to sign with so she had to improvise. She bit the tip of her finger as hard as she could to make the skin tear and bleed and used the blood to sign her full name.

Pro Shijunko

The contract burst into red stars that flew upwards.

“Do not let me down.”

She then woke up in a cold sweat. She was back in her room but the dream was vividly real. "Just what was that…" She muttered then looked at her hand hoping it was just merely a dream and her finger was back to normal. Letting out a sigh of relief, she shook her head and got prepared for the school day.

Pro, Gachi and Kyokai entered the school with a new flair, walking together to class with their chests pumped high. They felt they were unstoppable ever since they were endowed with a righteous cause though that didn't stop students from, let's say, throwing pie at their faces, but the students did approach with caution and grew intimidated by their presence after they shedded a lot of their meekness. They were scary from an outside perspective; Gachi and her snake-like eyes, Pro's magic, and Kyokai's eternally emotionless face, the three together finally started to look like a fearsome student council. Separate from them was Luka, having been investigating a mysterious factor in their plight while they were in the superdimension with Cynthia.

Pictures.

Bloody pictures showing students other than Tanaka killed in a variety of gruesome ways. Photos that were shown by the students who one day suddenly lost their friend or lover. Lari and Luka quickly bonded together discussing this incident privately and interrogating the students they suspected the most. Of course none of the suspects knew what was going on nor had a shred of a clue of what led to their friend's death, how could they when this all took place in the superdimension. Stressed and at a loss of what to do next, both girls sat on the green hill outside on the school's back path. It was mostly Lari doing all the work of having to piece together shreds of evidence to complete the puzzle of motive, means, opportunity--only able to put together the means and opportunity.

The means being the superdimension, somehow getting students to slip in which was a rare occurrence but this killer seemed to have a method of doing so. Lari, during the period of class and afterschool, searched around the campus looking for the biggest trace of magic residue left behind since switching between worlds left traces of intense magic where the user transferred. The only spot she found was the rooftop but that wasn't possible since none of the pictures had students killed there and the other council members frequented that spot too often for the killer to get away with murder there. It had to have been off campus where the killer moved. The opportunity… All afterschool where everyone's guard was down from learning and participating in their club activities.

Lastly the motive, for what reason would this killer start indiscriminately killing students that weren't in the student council? To frame them--?

That made little sense because Hinata was given the pictures to hold, the most logical next stage was to put the student council in a believable scenario in which they used their powers to hurt others, thought Lari. And if this killer wasn't a student..? Hinata was a delinquent in a sense but in a school where only prodigies were allowed, he like many others here would piss themselves in fear if they met actual delinquency. The white tablet in her hand started to tilt and lower, then fell out of her weak grasp as she fell to her knees with it.

"What are we going to do…" She whined and buried her face in her knees. Beside her, Luka, lying in the grass finally opened one eye to see her plight then sat up having figured out the remaining pieces but withheld from saying anything until Lari gave what she thought was the case--she wasn't confident in her own explanation.

--And Luka was embarrassed having to explain in such a way, feeling like Cynthia. "We questioned the students we thought were the most suspicious, but why haven't we talked to the ones closest to Tanaka, one of the first killed?"

Where was she going with this, thought Lari. "Tanaka? The only friendship he had was with Hinata." But she hesitated calling that a friendship. "Pro tries to be friendly with all the students she meets with--and him, he was a rather bland person. Pro's blunt but he seemed like the type of guy to not even glance on the other side. I thought it was really strange when Pro said that he came to her begging her to help with a problem."

"And he wasn't in any clubs?" Inquired Luka.

"Well he was in the newspaper club. Another student signed him in but I'm not sure if it was of his own volition."

Luka hopped to her feet. "Maybe that's the missing element I'm looking for." Without warning she ran off and Lari chased behind to see where her mind was leading her to.

To the newspaper club's room--

"W-what…" Lari snatched the paper taped to the door reading to everyone that read it 'The newspapers club will not have meetings for the next week. The club is in the process of disbanding. Please wait until the forms are completed to use the room again.'

--The door was firmly shut and locked tight and Lari's eyes widened at the disbanding process not having gone through the student council first. Students that wanted to start a club would have to get approval from the student council first to ensure they had the proper requirements (Four members, funds for club equipment, and a staff supervisor overlooking the club) and to disband a club they needed to go the student council to know the reason behind why then the council would send a form to the school's staff informing them about the club's disbursement and open classroom.

Hinata passed by smirking again with his hands in his pockets and a narrow gaze. "Sorry to break this to you but the newspaper club disbanded because of what you bastards did to Tanaka. Thanks to that the principal had to step in, breaking up the club and sending the students in it home to mourn and relax while he took care of the legalities."

Lari opened her mouth to contest this but Hinata interrupted her fast. "And don't worry about the council's process, I already showed him the photos of what you did to Tanaka and he's planning for your expulsion."

Lari's heart sank, lower and faster than any heavy object. She almost dropped the paper out of her hand then tightened her grip on it, returning it to the door and while facing away she calmly said, "I…see…"

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

This time Hinata had the opportunity of walking away with his laugh echoing throughout the halls. Now their situation resembled certain death without killing required. But Luka had this smirk she tried hiding throughout the day until she met with Pro and Gachi at the back entrance by the bench she sat at, telling them about the deathly situation just to see their faces go pale.

All the while Cynthia laughed. "Looks like you guys did it now."

"That just means we have to defeat his shadow asap. We have the tools to do it, and also…" Gachi dug in her school bag pulling out a card.

A grey card printed with a single sword of light on one side and blue diamond texture pattern on the other. It emitted a light red aura while it floated above her hand.

"The heck is this?"

"Hmmm could it be..?" Cynthia hopped up and snatched the card from her. "Yes yes… A spell card manifested while you were fighting shadows."

In response Gachi tilted her head. "Spell card? Does it allow us to perform certain spells?"

"The name is pretty self-evident." The doll mocked. "Some do spells, others give buffs and debuffs but they have limited uses. I have a few myself and found that they all have a unique trait that grows with time." Cynthia then shook her head. "Actually, I don't know how they grow, but if it grows with bonds then I'm vindicated yet again."

"Let's give it a different name then if they don't all perform a spell. How about… Link sign, or just sign." Gachi suggested. The others didn't have any objections to the name so thus it became 'Link Sign'.

Cynthia raised her arm and the card floated back to Gachi's hand "This one is called 'Sword of Imperial Justice'. It's a light based attack that may improve your sword skills."

"Sweet! I wanna test this thing out right now! But ah…" Gachi looked down at Cynthia. "You said you ran out of magic to transfer us right?"

That's when Pro interjected holding up her pink flip phone and showing the screen. Among the row of apps it was obvious which one looked strange, for a witch like Pro she stayed away from anything occult related because often it was fake or in rare cases, illegal. So among these apps was one of a red and grey butterfly and a dark eye overlaying it, a strange symbol. After telling them about her dream and run-ins with the mysterious masked girl. "This app just appeared on my phone and I couldn't delete it. It also tells me how many dragons remain and if a tempest is nearby."

"Sounds like quite the run in. She seems to be helpful to you, but be on your guard. You cannot trust anyone who knows about the superdimension." Cynthia's words would forever be engraved in her mind. Pro nodded and never having opened the app, she warned them to be prepared for anything before beginning the transfer.

Unlike the last time, they transferred inside the school. The state of the building was ruined by overgrowth, cracks open on the floor, tree roots breaking through the walls and so much more that could be said. The halls were larger than their real world counterparts and generally the layout of the school was more like a dungeon. Ahead of them were stairs leading up and in covering the side railings and spread on the corners were tall purple-orangish flowers. They were beautiful but Cynthia warned them not to get too close due to their magic poisonous trait. Their effects on the human body was little on first contact but prolonged exposure led to an illness that couldn't be cured by modern medicine, a disease that technically didn't exist yet, and at worse--the brain would explode.

Though time was skewed here, that didn't elevate any of the tension on their shoulders. They rushed up the stairs to the next hall and the next, all while cutting local monsters that got in their way. They followed a thick root that had torn out the window and spiraled around the school's walls, and it was here on this root bridge they would encounter Hinata who was waiting for them. The real Hinata and not a fake shadow created of this world--that didn't stop Luka and Gachi from rushing in while Pro stopped in her tracks.

With weapons drawn, "You–-"

GRRRAAAOOOOO!!

An almighty roar tore through the sky and a red dragon from above crashed down on the two(three if Cynthia was included) breaking the thick root bridge between Pro and Hinata. The impact shook not only the root but the entire building, then shattered the bridge in two and the red dragon fell below with Gachi, Luka, and Cynthia all crushed beneath its claws.

When the dust and debris clouding the scene parted, Pro lowered her arm shielding her eyes then quickly ran over to the edge of the root looking down where her friends fell and found nothing remaining of them but a pool of blood underneath the debris of wood. Her heart tightened, grasped by despair, tears began to well in her eyes and she tried so hard to hold it back. She couldn't when their deaths were so quick and abrupt. How could she fight without the friends she had by her side. Maybe this was the end since they couldn't do anything to change the course of their expulsion.

And Hinata laughed, a forced cackle, but a laugh nonetheless. Overdramatic pointing and rolling on the floor all to rub in that he successfully achieved his goal of severing the council apart. "All according to plan! All I had to do was lure you here and call upon a dragon using one of these flowers." He showed her the orange-purple flower that was poisonous to humans. He held it with two fingers but still they started to show signs of infection--red and burning through the first layer of his skin. He tossed it into the rift between them.

Pro fell to her knees feeling tears well up in her eyes. "You're a sick person, Hinata! All we wanted were peaceful lives."

"Peaceful lives?!" His voice cracked, "What's so peaceful about using this world to change others for your own personal gain? What's peaceful about using your powers to fight? That's not normal or peaceful!"

"I-it's to save the w-world!" Said Pro wavering in her motives and feeling like a complete child because of it.

"Then leave it to the truly just people. Those in positions of power cannot be heroes, never in our history has good arisen from authority." The final nail in the coffin for Pro. Defeated by a blade of words and her core being stabbed. To save the world was so vague and she had no way to justify her reason for it. To save the world. Why? To save the world. Why? To save the world. Why? To save the world. Why?

Merely following the orders of a trick rabbit without cause. Did the people want to be saved? As evidenced by Hinata, people were so willing to kill their own for the sake of living in despair, why should Pro save a world like that? One where group suicides on the news was a commonality, one where drugs ran rampant among peers not to feel happy or sad but to feel, a world where being rude was a virtue and companionship was weakness. The world was worse before and now it was just so… far gone.

The grip on her sword loosened then fell… the clanging of metal against the wood filling the empty silence.

"Why do I fight..?"

"Because we can!"

Both Hinata and Pro switched their attention to Luka and Gachi who somehow managed to get behind Hinata. Both girls and Cynthia went unscathed by the dragon's fall and survived. Luka finished her sentence. "To save the world because we can." she had seen it before, she had experienced it before, everyone had. When the world was at its lows, there were people who took the stand against society crumbling--risking their lives for the future. Luka was going to fight to progress the world out of darkness even if people, society, the world, the universe wanted to remain still. Not out of any sense of justice or noble cause, titles that held no meaning to her like heroes of light. Things that didn't matter since it's not for the sake of others but for herself--for Cynthia. But she would not say out loud to a single soul 'I will change the world for Cynthia.' Instead, saying something along the lines of 'I will change the world for Pro. As long as she smiles…' or 'I want Pro to look at me, the same way she does teacups.' To obfuscate her beliefs.

"H-how did you survive!?!" Hinata's eyes were nearly bulging out of its sockets.

"We transferred out." Then she explained, "Something was off when I investigated the source of the pictures you had of Tanaka. More and more started to surface but the other students didn't jump on the opportunity to frame us like you did." Instead the students wanted their help to find the culprit. Begging in secret that the council solve the matter however they could. Death was scary when it's right behind and those students didn't want to be the next victim.

"What I found in one particular picture was this." Luka showed the picture on her phone screen, of the severed head of a blonde, her yellow hair stained with the blood puddle in which it lied. In the blurry background was her body and a male student whose face was obscured by darkness but the outline of his hair resembled Hinata's. "A female student showed me this picture saying it was her friend that had died. But when I zoomed into the picture,"

A purple ribbon lying under her long blonde hair. "That's Gachi's hair ribbon. The killer had Gachi's shadow killed and what he intended to do with this photo was frame you."

Hinata stepped back shouting, "W-what?! Why would he do that!? This can't be!" then scrambled into a plethora of excuses as to how none of this made sense and how Luka's explanation was wrong, excuses that were just thrown out for the sake of it.

Luka lowered her phone. "When all was set and done he was going to throw you under the bus to wipe the slate clean. Once we were gone he could push all the blame onto you which makes me wonder if those students in the other photos were students you bullied at one point."

"Grgh!" Hinata now looked deathly ill. Biting his lip tightly and balling his hand into a fist. He wanted to desperately defend himself but Luka had figured it out, his lips were sealed tight by the criminal in question.

"The photos are too high quality to have been taken by an amateur. The photographer knew exactly how to frame the scene. That's why," Luka changed her attention to the man looking down on them from the roof, "We're gonna work together to stop the newspaper's club leader!"

He jumped from the railings performing a graceful flip and landing before Luka, Gachi and Hinata. He was tall and handsome to some, having a burn mark on the left side of his face after spending most of his time in the superdimension researching its existence, taking photos and most of all, getting the local monsters to kill students. This created the untucked and brutal boy turned man facing them, the cameraman of the newspaper club and his name, Tanaka Yasuhiro.