"Sienna? Are you okay?"

...

I shook my head and looked up at Stella.

"H...Huh?" I asked.

Stella bit her lip. "You were in a really deep meditative state. You didn't respond when I tried to wake you. Are you okay? What happened?"

I blinked, and rubbed my eyes.

Wetness?

Tears.

"I..." I trailed off, looking at my sister's worried face.

I shook my head.

"Hinokawa."

"What?"

She looked surprised, tilting her head.

"Our father's name. Elio Hinokawa."

She stared at me.

"Pardon?" she asked, confused.

"Hinokawa. That was our father's last name."

Stella's eyes went wide, and she stared at me in shock.

"I don't understand...?"

"I had a vision... I think. Of your mom."

Stella frowned, crossing her arms.

Ok, this is about to sound crazy.

"Do you... do you remember when you woke me up with the smelling salts? When I almost died the other day?" I asked.

She nodded, the color draining from her face as she recalled the experience. "Y-Yeah. That had me more than a bit freaked out. You looked borderline catatonic."

I took a deep breath, and exhaled.

"I saw Arcadia Vox in some kind of city I didn't recognize with a massive monster. I wrote it off as a dream, but... I don't think it was a dream. I think it was a memory. A memory from our father's perspective."

Stella scooted next to me.

"Tell me everything," she said.

"That... sounds kinda crazy. Not gonna lie. But you were in a meditative state so I guess that makes sense. I've never had one myself, but it's not unheard of to get premonitions and limited post-cognition from deep meditation."

I looked around, taking in the small room we were in within the gym.

"Maybe it's all a big hallucination conjured by my overworked brain. I don't know. But I'll say I just had one hell of a surreal experience."

She suddenly hugged me, leaning in next to me.

"Sienna, are you okay? Do you want to call it a day? No more training" Stella asked, looking me in the eyes, concerned.

"I'm fine. I'll be fine. And er, do you really wanna do that? I'm sweaty."

She laughed and let me go, shaking her head. "I'm sweaty, too, silly. It's fine. So, what happened? Tell me about the vision you had."

I nodded. I'd promised Stella's mom I wouldn't tell her we had a full blown conversation, and I intended to keep that promise. I wasn't about to take that away from her.

"Well, I was meditating and I had a vision. It was surreal, but I learned a few things."

I looked away.

"Truth be told, the first time I had one of these visions was during the Cataclysm when I awakened my full transformation. Red Masque almost killed me."

Stella gawked at me.

"Red Masque almost killed you?! THE Red Masque?" she hissed, trying not to yell.

"Yeah, but I made it out in one piece. That's when I had my first vision."

"What did you see?" Stella asked. "How? What?"

"I was bleeding out after he stabbed me. And then Arcadia Vox spoke to me. It was weird. She somehow possessed a stuffed cat doll I was carrying with me in the fight, and she spoke through that. It was crazy."

Stella blinked, and looked at me.

"Cat doll?" she asked, her voice going soft. Her eyes were wide.

"Yeah. A cat doll. It was like time froze, and suddenly I could see my mother keeping tabs on me from several states away. She was a mess. I had absolutely zero idea she was a magical girl before, and there she was. Watching me with her powers. And she was crying and a total mess. I didn't know the cat doll was Arcadia Vox until I had more context clues, but I was terrified. I thought I'd gone insane. Like one of those life flashing before your eyes things. I was bleeding out in a pile of debris and Red Masque had turned me into a shish kebab, and then suddenly, time froze, and a cat doll was talking to me. Like it was being possessed by a ghost."

I smiled.

"She gave my mother a pep talk though. And somehow, that snapped my mom out of her PTSD. Then my mom just absolutely flooded me with mana out of nowhere and suddenly my body was healing itself at a rapid pace and I transformed into Harmonia Lux for the first time. I don't know what happened. I'm not sure what Arcadia Vox did to her."

Stella bit her lip. Her brow furrowed, and she looked worried.

"I see a bit of a pattern here. You nearly died and talked to my dead mother. And the other day when you had your neck chewed through... and you nearly died again. You saw my mother. And then when you meditated just now... and you saw my mom... again... that sounds like a pattern if I've ever seen one."

She paused for a moment, chewing her lip. "That's concerning. I don't like that. At all."

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

I stared at her, worried that I may have said too much.

Stella sighed. "I mean, I'm taking this at face value. Because that explains why your mother transformed into Nightingale fucking Eclipse and did her blaze of glory thing up at Pewterstone City. It makes sense. Your mom had a lot of trauma from my mom dying, and that was what was holding her back. But that doesn't make any sense. How could my mom even do that? Possess a cat doll and talk to both of you while you're on death's door?"

I still felt really bad that her mother could talk to me, but not her. What if—

She shrugged. "Still, I'm glad you're okay, but this is getting ridiculous. You need to be more careful, Sienna. This is the first time I've heard about the Red Masque thing, and as many questions as I have for my dead mother, it's not worth you getting yourself killed. Please. Don't do that again. I don't know what I'd do without you now that I've found you."

What was I expecting? She.. she really does care about me, doesn't she?

I hugged her back. "I won't. I promise."

Stella smiled. "Good. Now, tell me everything else you saw."

I nodded and continued.

"I saw Arcadia Vox in the same vision I mentioned earlier. I saw her in the past, but... she'd gotten sucked through a portal and ended up in another world."

Stella stared at me.

"So she's alive? In an alternate reality?" she asked, her voice hopeful.

I shook my head. "The same monsters that attacked us in the Cataclysm were in that world. She... she survived Mortifera Nox, but died fighting some kind of abstract horrific monster saving that world not too long affterr."

Stella's face fell, and she looked down.

"I see," she whispered, her voice sad. "I guess I always lived with the assumption that she was dead, but... it still hurts."

I hugged her tighter.

"Sorry for bringing up bad memories," I said.

Stella sighed. "No, it's okay. I mean, it sucks, but we need to figure out what's going on. And we'll never get answers if we don't ask questions."

I smiled. "Yeah. And that's why I'm telling you about all this."

Stella laughed weakly. "I know. And I appreciate it."

"But anyway, as far as I can tell, our dad was still alive at the time of Arcadia Vox's end. But he was sucked through the portal to the alternate universe with her, and they spent a few days together in a world that was not our own."

"Elio Hinokawa..." Stella whispered. "I wish we could have met him..."

"I do too..." I replied. "But I'm sure he's out there somewhere. And if he's anything like our mothers? He's fighting for a better world, and with how crazy the world is now, I wouldn't be shocked if he just dropped in on us one of these days. He's a good man. I'm sure he is."

Stella nodded. "Yeah. I think that's the most likely scenario. He's trying to get back to us, but he can't. But if he's really the so-called smartest person in the world, he might be able to figure something out. Maybe he'll pop out of a portal sometime soon. Who knows."

She smiled, and I could see a hint of hope in her eyes.

"But I know this. He's a hero, just like my mother. He's out there, somewhere. And he's probably doing everything he can to get back to us. I'm sure he's fighting to get back home. And we need to help him if we ever get the chance to."

I nodded. "Yeah."

"Did you see anything else?" Stella asked.

I thought about the strange, strange vision I had of a woman dressed in an orange sundress, in a farmhouse surrounded by wheat in twilight. That vision made no sense to me. I'd never seen her before, but her glowing orange eyes made me feel like she was incredibly powerful and important.

And what was the deal with that giant, endlessly spiraling library she was trapped next to?

"No... that's all," I said, deciding to keep that particular vision to myself for now.

It was probably not relevant. I hope.

"But I learned that my mother was a double agent during the meditation session just now, and how your mom got to the place I saw last time. And... things went wrong in a weird way during the raid on Nox's fortress. It's fragmented and I don't have all the pieces, but everyone, including my mom, was supposed to come home that day. They didn't. Arcadia Vox died, and the plan failed in a spectacular way that should have been nigh-impossible. That has me worried. There were a lot of things that went wrong, and not in any way that makes sense at all."

Stella bit her lip. "I see. Like in what way?"

I shrugged. "Well, you see, when my m—"

"Hey!" a familiar voice shouted. "You girls want some smoothies?"

I turned, seeing Kaz and Albert approaching the entrance to the training room we were in. Kaz was holding two large, colorful smoothies, and he was grinning. His topknot was slightly askew, and his uniform was slightly rumpled, like he'd been running around a lot. Albert was grinning sheepishly, his hands in his pockets and also drenched in sweat.

"Oh. It's a pleasure to meet you?" Stella said, standing up and taking the offered smoothie from Kaz.

Kaz laughed. "Yeah. Um. Name's Kaz. Short for Kazuki, but that's too long. I'm an underclassman. Second year. Proud member of the Power Fitness club and part-time student of the prestigious Kaleidoscope Martial Arts dojo. At your service, madam."

"Pscht. Madam? What am I, a grandma?"

Kaz grinned and shrugged. "Just being polite, ma'am."

I giggled, and Stella laughed, shaking her head.

"Anyway, my name is Stella. It's nice to meet you," Stella replied with a twinkle in his eye.

She took a sip of the smoothie, and her eyes widened in surprise.

"Wow, this is really good. Thanks."

Kaz smiled. "You're welcome. Niko always makes extra for guests and friends and double scoops the protein. He's the best."

Stella smiled and bowed slightly. "I can tell."

I grinned at Albert. Honestly, it was no surprise that he'd randomly befriend Kaz. Those two were peas in a pod, and they'd no doubt get along well. They were both friendly goofballs and total softies. As far as I could tell with Kaz at least.

Kaz rubbed the back of his head sheepishly.

"Sorry for interrupting," he said. "I was just, y'know, passing by and saw you two here."

Stella nodded. "It's okay. I was just catching up on some things with Sienna here. Doing some breathing exercises and such. You're not interrupting anything important."

Well, that was technically a lie, but the distraction was welcome. Plus, it was an opportunity to get to know Kaz better.

"Oh, cool," he said. "Well, uh... how's day one in the gym treating you so far, Sienna?"

"My chest and legs are already feeling a bit sore, and my arms feel heavy. Is that normal?" I asked.

He nodded. "Yeah. But don't worry, that's normal. Your muscles are just getting used to working out. You should be fine in a day or three, tops. It'll only get easier from here."

He paused, and looked at Stella and then back at me.

"Um, so... I'm guessing you two are related?" he asked.

Stella and I shared a look. Maybe coordinating outfits wasn't the best idea. We were kinda obvious.

"Kinda. It's complicated," I said.

Stella nodded. "Very complicated."

Kaz grinned. "Oh, don't worry about it. I get it. It's cool."

I blinked and looked at him, raising an eyebrow.

"You do?" I asked.

Kaz shrugged. "Yeah. I've got a weird situation too. Got raised by a single dad but I had a few cousins and an aunt that helped take care of me growing up, and my mom died a long time ago in the line of duty. It was a whole thing."

He smiled sadly. "My mom was a really good person. And she left behind a lot of cool stuff that I'm proud to carry on. It's not the same situation, but it's close enough. So yeah, I get it."

Kaz reached into his shorts, pulling out a locket. It was a heart-shaped thing made out of copper, and he clicked it open. Inside was a picture of a pretty woman with short, chin-length black hair and a cute fox-eared emerald headband holding an infant baby. She looked happy and was grinning in the picture with visible dimples, and was dressed in a green night gown.

"That's my mom," Kaz said.

Stella's eyes widened, and she stared at the image. She looked at me and then back at the photo.

"Oh, wow," I said. "She's pretty."

Kaz nodded and closed the locket, putting it away. "Yeah. She was. She was the best. But, you know, life happens. And she's not around anymore. But I still carry on. And I know she's watching over me. In spirit, at least. I've actually got an older cousin in the academy here and over at Kaleidoscope U. I know that's not the same situation as you two, but I get it. It's cool."

"Thanks," I said.

"Anyway," Kaz said, looking at Stella and then at me. "It's been great meeting you two, but I should get going. Niko's probably wondering if I'm wimping out of deadlifts."

He grinned at Stella. "It was nice meeting you, though. And Albert?"

Kaz turned to Albert, who had been quietly sipping his smoothie and observing the whole conversation.

"I'll come over tonight to check out your vintage collection? I'll bring my own controller."

Albert laughed nervously. "Yeah, um, sounds like fun. See you later, Kaz."

Kaz grinned and walked back towards the main weight room.

I watched him go, and then looked back at Stella, who was still staring at the spot where Kaz was standing, a strange look on her face.

"Kazuki, wait!" Stella called.

Kaz stopped in his tracks and turned around.

"Uh, huh? What's up?" he said, looking confused.

Stella looked at him, and then at me. I could see tears forming in her eyes.

"Your mother... " Stella whispered. "Was her name... Fuwari? Fuwari Kazetsuna?"

Kaz blinked and froze, almost like he was processing the question.

And then, his eyes went wide.