By the time I emerged in a lightly trafficked hall on campus, my Nexus was buzzing. Stella had texted back.

"See you soon!"

She included a little heart, which I found sweet.

Stella had set up a group chat with the six of us and was coordinating a meeting at the front entrance of the library. I turned around, smiling as the magical instantly morphed back into the normal, nondescript door it was meant to be. It was one of the more impressive and subtle feats of magitech at Kaleidoscope, and the first of its kind apparently.

I didn't know much about the complicated powers that created them, other than what I asked RAIKO. When it came time for classes, the AI would lead me to the least populated hallways to use to go in and out of class so that I wouldn't run into anyone in civilian form that recognized me in magical form and out me. How it managed to coordinate that for dozens of knights, I would never know. It made me wonder if other 'tier 2' schools used similar methods or not. Regardless, it worked.

The library was a ten minute walk across campus, and it wasn't long until I reached it. The place was massive, with five stories and a number of smaller satellite buildings around the area. We were supposed to meet in front of the main entrance on the left side of the building. When I arrived, there was only one person there. It wasn't anyone I expected.

There was a freckle-faced girl with flaming ginger hair standing there looking uncomfortable and nervous. She wore a bright green cardigan sweater, and had on a pair of worn blue jeans and white sneakers.

"Um, hi?" I said, waving awkwardly at her.

She looked startled, before smiling and waving at me.

"Hey Sienna, what are you doing here?"

I smiled back at her. "Here to meet up with some friends from class. What brings you out here, Siobhan?"

"Oh," Siobhan said, fidgeting a little and rubbing the back of her neck. "Um... well, the truth is I'm here to meet with some friends myself. But I guess I'm the first one here, huh? That's a little embarrassing, haha. I, um, I hope I don't make them uncomfortable."

Her hair was no longer tied up in a French braid like it was this morning. Instead, she'd let it down entirely and her short hair was wild, free, and wavy. It was a sharp contrast to Forest Wlilow's neat scarlet-red hair.

I pulled out my phone, narrowing my eyes suspiciously. I quickly opened up the Nexus app and tapped Forest Willow's avatar to send a text.

> Are you at the library already?

Siobhan's flinched slightly as her phone buzzed.

"Oh, uh. Sorry. One sec."

Siobhan fiddled with her phone for a few seconds, opening it up.

As she opened it up, I punched in another message to Forest Willow. It was almost amusing, seeing her get so worked up and fidgety.

> Did you change your hair? You look good. 😊

Siobhan blushed and I heard a small gasp escape her as she looked up at me.

"No way."

"Small world, huh?" I laughed. "History class was just this morning. I didn't think we'd meet up again so soon!"

"I... wow," Siobhan said. Her cheeks were still flushed as her phone buzzed again. "Uh..."

"Alright, enough moping around Ichi," an unfamiliar, high-pitched voice said.

Siobhan and I turned our heads to the right, seeing a girl an inch or so shorter than me walk out from the library's double doors. Her eyes were dark and she had black hair that was tied up in a short ponytail, with a pair of orange barrettes on either side. She had a very pretty, delicate face with full lips, a small nose, and big eyes. She had a small dimpled smile that lit up the corners of her lips as she looked over at us.

She was dragging Ichigo by the wrist behind her, who seemed to be sulking. The athletic, glasses-wearing girl wore a white and red varsity jacket and black gym shorts that revealed a pair of toned, muscular legs. She looked like a cat that was about to get dragged to the vet.

"Ichigo? How long have you been there?" I asked, confused.

"H-Hey Sienna," she paused as her eyes widened. "What's up?"

Siobhan waved, still looking a little bewildered.

The shorter black-haired girl smiled and let out a little giggle. She had an energetic, graceful - almost feline gait, and she had on an orange and white striped blouse that was half unbuttoned and showed a lot of skin. She also had a white miniskirt with frills, a black choker with an orange bell, and wore thigh high orange stockings that ended in black ankle boots.

"Sorry, sorry, I didn't mean to eavesdrop or anything," the black haired girl said.

My brain made the connection between Claw Yuzu and the girl in front of me. I stared at her, looking her over again.

"Oh," she giggled glancing between me , "You can call me Sue! Soo-Jin, if you wanna be proper. But Sue works too. Ichi just straight up calls me Susan."

Siobhan stared at her blankly and Sue laughed.

"Um, hi! I'm Siobhan."

The other girl grinned widely at her, her eyes lighting up.

Soo-Jin bounced up to her, pulling her into a hug. She then wrapped an arm around Siobhan, dragging her off towards Ichigo.

"Ichi was shy about coming over here because of reasons, so I dragged her out to get a little sunshine. Hiya Siobhan! Hiya Sienna!"

The cutesy staff-wielder giggled, waving at me.

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Ichigo looked up and I felt a chill run down my spine.

She had a murderous look on her face, like a predator stalking her prey.

I glanced between the two, looking at them both. Ichigo looked ready to kill, while Sue just seemed to be amused. Then I looked at Siobhan.

Siobhan was still blushing from Soo-Jin's hug, her eyes wide.

"Hey listen..." Ichigo started.

"A little social anxiety doesn't hurt, right Ichi??" Soo-Jin laughed. "Ichi's a big softy, I swear."

Siobhan just laughed awkwardly, her face flushing. "Yeah. That's fine."

Ichigo's cheeks were red now and she was visibly sulking. Sue's hand was still on Siobhan's shoulder and Ichigo had her arms crossed.

"Thanks, Siobhan," she grumbled. "I was err, a little shy. I thought it was her but I wasn't sure."

"You've got a friend for life in me, okay Ichi?" Soo-Jin beamed

"Yeah, I guess so," Ichigo grumbled.

I heard a set of footsteps coming up behind me and I glanced back.

A petite girl with sandy blonde hair approached, wearing a pale blue dress, sun hat, and white flats. Her eyes were bright blue, and her cheeks were slightly pink. She wore a cross necklace around her neck. She looked like she could have blended in with any church choir or Bible study group.

Her hair was done up in a pair of twin braids down past her shoulders, and her clothes were conservative and modest. She also had a small purse slung around her waist. She was pretty, but in a very plain girl-next-door kind of way. Her nose was slightly upturned, her mouth was small, and she had a prominent cherubic forehead. The girl was maybe five foot even and she was smiling softly as she walked up to us.

"Hiya," she said cheerfully, waving to us.

The four of us quickly looked at each other. She could only be one person.

"Hey," she said again.

"Aren't you..." Ichigo and Sue started at the same time.

"Yup. You guessed it. Call me Sarah, okay?"

I nodded, walking forward to offer a hug. "I'm Sienna. Good to finally see you in the flesh!"

Sarah took it and hugged back, smiling at me. "Good to meet you too!"

"Sarah, Sienna, Siobhan, Soo-Jin..." Ichigo counted. "Four S names. Wow. That's kinda funny, huh?"

"I didn't notice," Soo-Jin giggled.

"I did, I thought it was cute!" Siobhan beamed, finally perking up a little.

"Make that five," a soft voice said from the side. I turned to my left to see Stella step out from behind a statue.

She wore a white dress shirt and black dress slacks. Her hair was down and she had a black ribbon holding her hair up in the front. A pair of black heels clacked against the pavement as she stepped into the light, her posture perfectly straight. Her silky black hair flowed down past her waist and her face was composed, her eyes focused and calm. She wore black leather gloves and a black tie, a silver pin in the shape of her sword attached to the knot.

Stella looked regal, like a princess, and her aura was commanding and elegant.

"M-Matsudaira?" Soo-Jin squeaked, staring wide eyed at the girl.

She was the first one to recognize the most famous student at the school.

Stella's face was as placid, but her smile had an amused tinge to it as she walked over.

"How do you do?" she asked politely, bowing to Soo-Jin.

"I-It's a pleasure to meet you!"

"Stella Matsudaira," Stella introduced. She walked over to the group and stood between Siobhan and I. "I'm pleased to make all your acquaintance."

I snorted, snickering, and I got an elbow in the side.

"Ouch! Okay, okay, sorry. You're doing the fancy rich girl act. I get it."

The girls all blinked, staring at Stella, and then back at me. Stella kept a poker face on, not giving the facade away at all.

"I'm not sure what you mean by fancy," she said, raising her eyebrow at me, her eyes twinkling.

"Wait. You're here for us. So wait. I-Ichigo. The two you've been heading out with. You've been hanging out with Stella Matsudaira!?"

Ichigo shrugged. "What can I say? She packs a mean punch and kick. We're turning into gym buddies."

Soo-Jin stared at her friend and then at Stella, who was just standing there with one hand on her chest.

"Waaaaahhhhhh! Ichi's going to leave me! Little Sue is going to be so alone and she's gonna be left behind and forgotten and... and..."

I stared, baffled at he sudden cutesy, girly shift.

Siobhan giggled, her eyes finally sparkling with mirth. "It's okay Soo-Jin," Sarah said.

Soo-Jin covered her face with her hands, sniffling. "Ichi's movin' up in the world! Soon, she's going to forget about me. Sipping champagne and going on dates with celebrities, and I'll be all like, 'hey, remember me?' And then Ichi will be like 'who are you?' And then she'll go on a trip to some fancy European country, and I'll never see her again..."

She swayed in place, a sad, dreamy expression on her face, before she stumbled forward.

"And... and then she'll gain fifty pounds and become addicted to drugs and alcohol and her life will fall apart, and I won't even be there to pick her up because she'll have forgotten who I am... I'm gonna be abandoned! Waaahh! I'm just a little street cat no one loves. Just useless little Soo-Jin."

Ichigo sighed, reaching over and rubbing Soo-Jin on her head. She didn't seem very sympathetic.

"Calm down Susan," she sighed.

Soo-Jin sniffled. "Ooookkkayyyy ♪."

The two looked at each other and burst into a fit of laughter, and I realized they'd probably been messing with each other like that since they were kids.

"But for real. For real for real... I suppose we could have expected if anyone was an unstoppable blizzard of doom and destruction it'd be Stella Matsudaira."

"I do try," Stella laughed. "It is my esteemed honor and duty as the new face of Matsudaira."

Stella did a small bow and then she turned to look at Siobhan. "But I think the girl that needs the most attention is Siobhan, actually."

"Me?" the girl said.

I smiled. She seemed a lot less confident and more fidgety than when we had been in our magical girl forms. The same was kind of true for Ichigo, actually.

"Indeed. You were amazing, but it is clear your spar with Vespera rattled you a bit."

Siobhan nodded slowly, looking away from us.

Soo-Jin suddenly lurched forward, latching onto her. The height difference was adorable.

"Dear, dear. Come on. Let's forget about that session back there. Ichigo's got this cute boy toy that she's looking forward to cooking with tonight and he's got all sorts of food ready for us. It'll be nice, right?"

Siobhan nodded again and smiled awkwardly.

"Hey!" Ichigo scowled. "It's not like that!"

"Uh huh."

Ichigo turned beet red as Soo-Jin patted Siobhan on the head, reaching above her. "It'll be okay, okay?" she whispered. "Let's go eat something and forget all that bad stuff."

"Yeah, yeah," Ichigo sighed. "Let's go."

"Hey Sienna," Soo-Jin chirped. "Can you text Ichi's loverboy that we'll be on our way?"

Sarrah giggled and Siobhan flushed. Stella and I just shared an exasperated smile. I didn't know what to expect when it came to Claw Yuzu, but it was almost like her dynamic with Ichigo inverted between their magical girl and civilian selves.

"I can text Albert myself," Ichigo grumbled. "Listen here, you!"

Soo-Jin stuck out her tongue and skipped off ahead, Ichigo running after her as they continued their banter. Siobhan walked with Sarah, the two of them whispering in low tones. I fell into pace next to Stella in front of the pair and she shot me a wink.

"Hey."

"Hi yourself, your highness. I guess the world is just full of surprises."

"More than you'd expect," Stella smiled.

"Ichigo's good people."

"I know," she answered. "The orange cat on the other hand... I think we'll get along just fine."

"Don't. I already dread whatever mischief you're going to get on up to."

She chuckled, flipping a strand of hair behind her head as she turned to me, a playful grin on her face. "I have no idea what you're talking about, my lady. But if you're that concerned, I suppose I can ask you to be my escort and chaperon. Make sure I stay out of trouble and all."

"Oh dear, what an honor."

"Isn't it?"

Stella giggled and we both trailed on after Ichigo as she chased Soo-Jin around a tree, shouting in indignation.