She had gone and done it, she had run away. But that was okay, it wasn’t as if anyone would really miss her, not anyone outside of the scary adults at least. But Wish didn’t trust them; she didn’t really like them at all. Even if they always told her that “it would be okay” and that it was “for the sake of the greater good” every time she listened to them and went along with their words, she would always end in a lot of pain.

Even then, the adults weren’t really the reason she had ran away. It wasn’t like Wish was the only one who would always end in pain. It was unpleasant but physical pain wasn’t something that severe to her. Rather than that, a strange pain inside her chest is what engulfed all of her being. At the time, the girl had been too young to realize it, but that pain was called loneliness.

After walking around a large, abandoned building at night, Wish finally stopped moving her legs. She sat down in the middle of what looked like a long-stairway. The building itself seemed to be some kind of old school but it was already too late at night for any students to be around. As she walked here, she had been able to realize that the structure of this location was quite different to what she was used to.

The building itself was like an immense rectangle with a gap in the middle. All of the area at the center was an open campus with sports fields and a clear view of the dark skies. Instead, the classrooms were all located at the borders of the building. From there, some corridors led into classrooms deeper inside and more were spread to the floors above. All in all, this seemed to be a three story building. Yet, a quick look at it was more than enough to tell anyone that this place was really old and damaged.

If you were to ask Wish how she got here, the truth was that she didn’t remember. Her entire focus had been to run away, it didn’t matter where to.

A little, young girl hugged her legs with her arms as she sat on the empty stairs. After looking up at the skies with her odd-colored eyes, she realized that a storm was brewing. The sky was darker than usual and black clouds had swallowed all the radiant stars. That wasn’t what called her attention the most however, what stood out the most to that young girl is that the clouds had taken away the moon with them.

For a moment, she felt relieved. The moon was bad. The moon was really bad. No matter how many times she told that to everyone else, all the adults and her friends alike would laugh at her. Her friends…? Was it okay to say that all of those kids were her friends at all? That’s what everyone else always called them, but she didn’t think so. After all, she couldn’t make friends because she was different. She couldn’t make any friends because she was the “weird” one. She was always the one being laughed at. The one whose words no one could ever take seriously.

And even then… it’s not like she didn’t want friends. Even now, even today, she had tried to approach someone. That someone had ultimately been the reason that she ended up running away. She had seem them go through the same physical pain as her; she knew they didn’t trust the adults either. So that’s why she thought that maybe, she could approach them, because they didn’t seem to be like everyone else. Then again, the only reason she had thought that was because of her intuition, it was like a sixth sense that sometimes allowed her to perceive things. Even if most of the time she was right, there were times she got carried away and things weren’t as she expected them to be, because of this, people would take her even less seriously.

Not so long ago, she had caught a glimpse of them again. It was a young girl, possibly the same age as her. She had really long and glossy black hair that reached her back. It seemed that unlike Wish who was able to withstand the pain, things weren’t going so well for this young girl. Her arms were all covered in bandages and some spots in her face had Band-Aids to cover some wounds and bruises.

The moment Wish saw her; she couldn’t help but to wonder if she was okay. It wasn’t the first time she had tried to approach this girl, but it never ended well. Every single time, it was the same. And every single time, Wish was taken over by a powerful fear. Fear that remained even now, fear that was stopping her from taking any action. But looking at how much pain that person was going through; at some point her desire to connect with someone and her desire to protect others had mixed in together, giving her the push she needed to approach them.

All she had done was to approach her, all she had done was to call out her name once, but she was met with a simple and absolute response.

“Go away.”

Immediately afterwards, Wish felt like something deep inside her broke apart.

The image of that girl’s deadly red eyes glaring at her with disdain is an image she couldn’t take out of her head no matter what. Even if this was the usual scenario, this time something was different. This time, Wish wasn’t overtaken by fear. This time all she could sense was the deep hatred that came out of this person.

Even if this was hatred from a single person, it’s still what she received from everyone else. She had tried to cling unto the hope that maybe there was someone else that would understand her. She had tried to cling unto the hope that maybe she didn’t have to be the odd one out. But at that moment, something clicked inside her. That hope that she had tried to protect, it had broken apart into a million pieces. No, it was a hope that had been shattered many times before already. But she had continued to hold all of the broken pieces inside her hands, protecting it no matter what. And yet, this time, she had let go of it, and it had all scattered away with the wind.

And so, the young blonde girl had run away. It didn’t matter if that was against the rules, it didn’t matter what would be of her, it didn’t matter, it didn’t matter, it didn’t matter, nothing mattered at all. After all, if everyone hated her so much, everyone would be much happier without her. After all, maybe if she was gone forever, everyone would have to stop going through so much pain. She couldn’t understand why, she couldn’t understand if it was really a warning from her sixth sense or if it was what she had made herself believe, but she couldn’t shake away the feeling that everyone had to go through all of this because she was around.

Somehow, sitting here, surrounded by such a powerful storm, it put her heart at ease. The sound of heavy rainfall hitting the cold ground, the cold howling wind running all around, making her hair sway from side to side, it somehow made her feel like at least nature was still there for her.

After a few moments, she decided to walk upstairs, moving into the second floor and into the third one. From there, she moved closer to the border of the floor. From there, she could get a better view at the campus of the school like looking out of a balcony. From there her body could feel the full force of the storm a lot more clearly.

Wish closed her eyes, allowing herself to get lost in the sensations around her.

Why did it always have to be like this? Why did she have to be so different? And above all, what made her so different from everyone else? No matter how hard she tried to think about it, she could never reach a proper answer.

It was funny, even if her heart hurt so much, even if she wanted nothing but to disappear, she still couldn’t bring herself to drop a single tear.

But maybe this was okay. Maybe if she just surrendered herself to this overflowing force of nature, she could reach a new world where all of those worries would finally go away. Maybe if she surrendered herself to this fierce wind, she would be able to fly across the infinite skies.

And so, the girl could feel her feet slowly leaving the ground. But that was okay. Up until the very end, there was something she was convinced about: this was for the best.

And yet, contrary to all of her expectations, that young girl was proved wrong.

“Wish!!”

A voice called out her name. The blonde had focused too much on trying to recognize whose voice it was, that her mind couldn’t keep up with what happened next. Sounds of running steps came closer and closer in, and then, Wish was dragged into the solid ground behind her with a lot of force.

Once she had started to analyze the situation, she realized there was someone there. Someone holding tightly unto her waist and keeping her grounded despite the powerful winds. Was it the same girl who had told her to run away just now?

It was difficult to see because of the darkness of the night, but after taking a closer look, Wish was able to notice this had been someone else entirely. It was another little girl with shoulder length hair of light brown color. Once both made eye contact, she was taken aback by the clear light blue eyes of the girl. It was almost like looking right into a peaceful sky.

But then she immediately noticed something else, there were tears rolling down the girl’s eyes.

“Please, don’t go anywhere.” The short haired girl called out to her.

“Why-?”

“I’m sorry! I’m really sorry!!” Why was that girl apologizing? “I… I have always wanted to talk to you, but I was too scared to. B-But then, when you ran away, I couldn’t just let you go! I didn’t want you to go! Please don’t go!!”

“I have to go!!” The blonde girl couldn’t give in so easily. “Everyone will be happier without me!!”

“That’s not true!!”

“If I stay everyone will laugh at you for talking to me!! A-And the moon will get us all!!”

“That doesn’t matter! Both everyone and the moon! I’ll beat them up for you!!”

Wish didn’t know how to react. Was there really someone that truly cared about her? Was there someone who was also the odd one out? Had she been too focused on herself to be able to realize that? Had she been too distracted to notice that the person who she had been looking for all this time was right before her eyes?

For some reason, a single tear rolled down the blonde girl’s cheek for the first time ever.

At that moment, Wish had felt as though her entire life had changed.

She had found salvation. She didn’t have to be lonely anymore.

After that day, nothing was the same again.

After that day, she had found someone to laugh with, someone to cherish.

And yet, just like that, one day, the person who had told her not to “go anywhere,” was nowhere to be found anymore.

At the end, that mirage had faded away.

At the end, Wish was alone once again.

☆

“Hey, Hey wake up already.”

Wish could hear a familiar voice reach her ears. Her body was really heavy. Being forcefully awakened like that was the absolute worst. She wanted to go back to her dream. If she had an alarm right now she would choose to snooze it for five more minutes. Ahh, whatever. Whoever is trying to wake her up right now can just wait.

“Hm?” Viktor, the blonde boy adjusted his glasses as he looked at Faith who tried to wake up the girl. “She’s really out like a log, huh?”

“Pretty much.” Faith sighed. “I’d leave her here if it wasn’t because of how dangerous this city is, it’d be the same as leaving her to die.”

“Oh, so you do care about her, huh?”

The boy leaned in close to Faith, almost too close for comfort, but was given an elbow to his stomach in response.

“Shut up.”

“You don’t really hold back.” Viktor felt to his knees in an over-exaggerated fashion while trying to catch his breath. After a few seconds however, he jumped back up as if nothing. “Oh! I got it!”

“Hm?” Faith raised his eyebrow.

“This calls for that old trick, let’s draw doodles all over her face!”

“Perfect.” Faith agreed immediately. “Hand me over the marker!”

“Um…” Viktor laughed nervously. “I kind of don’t have one.”

“…”

The blonde then flinched as a bullet barely grazed his hair without warning.

“You will remain quiet for now.”

“Y-Y-Y-Yes!!!”

The blonde was fast to step back so he would have a decent distance away from Faith. Then again, this was good. He needed some time to check on someone, so this was the perfect opportunity now that Faith was distracted with Wish.

He searched the pockets of his lab coat until he finally spotted a smartphone with a white case. Despite the phone requiring a really complex pattern to be unlocked, Viktor was able to do it with ease in less than a second.

It seemed like the communications across the city were still down, huh? Maybe this ended up doing more damage than expected. He took a quick mental note to remind himself and add this to the files for this experiment. Then again, even if the communications were down, that didn’t really matter too much right now. Instead his focus was moved towards an application by the corner of the phone.

As it was, his main screen was littered with a lot applications, but one of them was a little different. It had a silver colored icon with the image of two wings. The name of the application was: “A.S.” Upon tapping on it, there was a quick loading bar that rapidly reached 100% and then, a familiar image appeared on the screen.

It was a figure with humanoid form. They had white hair, some fell over their shoulders and their bangs completely covered their eyes. Aside from that, their body was adorned with a black hospital gown and a strange silver collar with buttons around their neck.

The image on Viktor’s phone looked like a really well drawn 2D figure but they seemed to react the moment the App was opened, so on closer inspection it was a really high quality 3D model.

▲A.S. App: Welcome back.

A text box appeared on the lower side of the screen. Viktor’s phone had made no sound at all up till now, so it was possibly that this was just a way for the application to get around if his phone was in silent mode. There was also a small box that prompted the phone’s keyboard to come up in order to type a response, so Viktor decided to use that for now. He couldn’t take that many risks with someone like Faith nearby.

With that being said, let’s take a better look at the conversation happening in Viktor’s screen:

▼ Viktor ☂: Hey there!

▲ A.S. App: Viktor? I see, that is the new name that you decided to go with. Is that the full name you chose? I’m sure most humans have a first and a last name.

▼ Viktor ☂: Huh? What are you talking about? This has totally been always my name! The one and only Viktor Nihil!

▲ A.S. App: You could have been more direct with your response, but I appreciate the fact that you still gave me an answer.

▲ A.S. App: For some people Viktor comes from Victor, meaning: victory, but from dialects like the Latin language, Viktor can mean “conqueror.” While a simple way to see the name Nihil is: Nothingness. In other words, “Conqueror of Nothingness,” I see, I believe I can understand why you chose that name.

▼ Viktor ☂: Impeccable analysis as always!

▲ A.S. App: Our trains of thought might be surprisingly similar. I have also chosen a new name for myself. Maybe “new” isn’t the best way to put it, seeing how I did not have one yet.

▲ A.S. App: Please hold.

A.S. App – Loading… Loading…

A.S. App – Updating… Updating…

▲ Raiko: Raiko.

▲ Raiko: That is the name I have chosen.

▲ Raiko: I have written it here with roman letters so it is easier for you to read. But you can also write it with Japanese kanji like this: 雷弧

▲ Raiko: It is because I was fascinated with the way you can write names with meaning in the Japanese language. 雷 can be read as “Rai,” this character represents lightning. 弧 this is the “Ko,” which can be read as arc.

The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

▼ Viktor ☂: Arc of lightning, huh? I like it! Didn’t expect you to be the kind to suddenly be into Japanese like that.

▲ Raiko: Oh? I learned about it from all the games in your phone.

▼ Viktor ☂: Wait-

▲ Raiko: I will not judge you for your tastes; I would say some of this is even rather unique. I do question however, why most of them regardless of the game’s genre have one fact in common.

▼ Viktor ☂: ?

▲ Raiko: Illustrations of 2D anime-style girls in revealing or suggestive clothing.

▼ Viktor ☂: Stop looking at those games!!

▲ Raiko: I also have realized these games consist of gambling systems where you can get illustrations of higher “rarities.” Not only does the artwork seem to be higher quality for some but they also seem to give you an advantage in the game. I am curious so I will proceed to try and aim for the cards with highest rarities right now.

▼ Viktor ☂: Wait no!! Don’t use my crystals, at least wait until the Halloween event gacha!!

▲ Raiko: A surprising reaction.

▲ Raiko: Oh. Right. The experiment, I had lowered its priority now that it’s over.

▼ Viktor ☂: Let me guess, since you are talking to me through here, something went wrong, didn’t it?

▲ Raiko: You could say that. But I believe the results are still beneficial for the project moving onward.

▼ Viktor ☂: That’s good enough for me. Well then, I’ll go for now. And don’t use my crystals! Or I’ll make sure you don’t have access to any online information for a month!!

This time, Raiko didn’t give him any response but somehow Viktor could feel a very threatening aura coming from their 3D model before he decided to close the App and turn off the phone altogether for good measure.

“You are so annoying!! Let me sleep more!!” Wish sat down with a very grumpy look on her face.

She really didn’t like being waken up just like that. Ironically enough, the first thing she was able to see upon opening her eyes was a pair of piercing red eyes.

“Huh? Wait wait, what are you doing here?!” She pointed at Faith and then jumped up startled.

She had been too caught up in her dreams and her memories but now it was all flowing back in. Taking a quick look at the destroyed plaza around them was enough to remind her of what had taken place in here.

Wish let out a sigh as she tried to put herself together. For some reason, something was making her feel uncomfortable even though she didn’t know what it was. But that’s when it hit her, the crescent moon shone in the skies just above her. The moment her eyes made contact with it she frantically moved her hands across her neck and her chest to search for her necklace.

“W-Where is it?!”

“Here.” Faith fought back the impulse to tease her while she was like this; she knew this was a really important comfort item for her after all. “You fell asleep right after I handed it over and left it on the floor, you are lucky it didn’t get stolen.”

“No way!! You are the one who probably tried to steal it!!”

“Tch. As if!”

Upon hearing the commotion, the blonde boy rapidly walked right back where the other two stood. But on a very sudden turn of events, he held Wish’s hands and looked intently into her eyes.

“Ah, so you are finally awake, my princess!”

“?!”

“Do you have somewhere to stay? How about my place?”

What was this guy going on about? What was he even doing? Wish wasn’t really the best at being able to read the air but she was sure this wasn’t the first time something like that happened. Yes, the last time something similar happened was once she was walking along with May. If she wasn’t mistaken May had said to be careful and that it was simply someone trying to… to hit her? No, that didn’t seem quite right. It had to do something with romantic interest, did it not? Oh well, if that’s the case being honest was always the best way to go!

“Sorry!” Wish laughed nervously. “I don’t mind boys but I like girls more!”

Faith was readying himself to smack Viktor away if he had a bad or dangerous reaction, but he continued being as unexpected as ever.

“As, so you understand me!!” Sparkles appeared on Viktor’s eyes. “Aren’t cute girls the best?!”

“They are!!” Somehow, Wish was getting really into it because she was suddenly very enthusiastic about it. “Especially the ones that are the kind elder-sister type, or the sporty ones that tie up their hair into a ponytail!!”

“What’s with that very specific response?!” Faith was surprised. Even if he had known Wish for some time now, this was a new side of her he had never seen that much of.

“Yes perfect!! I knew you would have great tast-!!”

But Viktor couldn’t finish his sentence. This was because Faith took hold of his face and shoved him away, forcing him to let go of Wish and stepping in front of the blonde himself.

“That’s great and all but shouldn’t we get out of here?”

“Right!” Wish snapped back into reality. “I need to go check on Maymay!!”

“On May?”

Ϟ “Oh, I was able to reconnect, good.” Ϟ

Faith jumped up to his feet the moment a voice spoke into his ear all of the sudden. He had completely forgotten about the tiny earpiece that May had given him in order to keep contact. And speaking of the devil, the voice that spoke to him was that of the elder sister.

Ϟ “Hello? You should be able to hear me now, correct?” Ϟ

“Yeah, yeah. I can hear you.”

Ϟ “Let me go to the point. Have you seen Wish? I need to talk to her ASAP.” Ϟ

“She’s right here but…” Why did May want to talk to Wish all out of the sudden? Faith couldn’t help but feel very out of the loop.

Ϟ “Perfect. Let met talk to her immediately.” Ϟ

Wish simply tilted her head to the side in confusion while looking at Faith’s annoyed expression. For him not to fight back and simply listen, Wish could already tell there was no way the person at the other end of the line was anyone but May.

“Tch.” The black haired boy took off his earpiece and then handed it to Wish. “Here, she wants to talk to you.”

Wish wasn’t really scared or nervous about talking with someone like that. Even if May was on her own wavelength and could be someone very scary and demanding, Wish quite liked that. The blonde girl rapidly put on the earpiece and spoke.

“Hello?”

Ϟ “Hi there~ Thank you for using our hospital’s services~” Ϟ

The way May spoke, it was obvious that she was faking sounding nice at all. That being said her words were also a sign that Starr had successfully reached May along with the girl they had found unconscious at the fountain, knowing that was a relief.

“You are welcome! I knew I could count on you!!”

Ϟ “That’s not the response I wanted!! Do I really seem to be a hospital to you?!” Ϟ

“Hehehe, sorry Maymay! I didn’t have much of a choice!”

Ϟ “Tch. Listen, you owe me one, can we agree on that?” Ϟ

“Sure!”

Ϟ “Good. Then I’m having you pay me back immediately.” Ϟ

“Huh?”

Even though it was still May being May. Wish couldn’t feel like there was something wrong with that last sentence. Combined with the tone of her voice, she could feel a hint of worry mixed in. It’s like she was in a really big hurry.

Ϟ “Aside from this line I set up to talk with Faith, communications are still down. I’m not able to get in contact with Eri at all. When I try to use my personal tracker, I get no response from her device either. She was with Caroline and I am getting a response of Caroline’s location not too far from where you are. I need you get there as soon as possible and make sure both are safe. I don’t know what happened so be prepared for anything.” Ϟ

Eri? That was the girl she had met earlier after defeating Faith if Wish was not mistaken. Even though she was May’s sister, unlike May, she had almost never interacted with her before. She had an idea on her head of who Caroline was but she wasn’t too familiar with her either. This kind of task was really urgent, it would be no surprise if they had been attacked by a member of the organization and taken there.

That being said, the situation wasn’t too good. It’s not something she could tell May so easily, but there was something affecting Wish right now. The Scarlet Outburst. It didn’t matter if it became undone right away or not, simply activating something like that put an incredibly strain on her body. It was the same for Faith as well. Both were acting normally because it was their nature to act though, but there was no way either of them were in a state where they could enter a direct combat, much less to go against multiple opponents.

So even if this was really important. Wish’s confidence on being able to do it was really low. There was a chance things could end terribly like this but… Faith was here. If both went together they might be able to stand a higher chance at saving everyone.

“Got it!!” She finally gave May a response. There was no way she would say “no” regardless of the situation. “In the meantime please look after the friends I sent!”

Friends. It was strange for that word to come out of Wish’s mouth. It must have been just as shocking for May to hear that since she had remained silent for a few seconds. The blonde felt something cold running deep inside. She hoped it was okay for her to be able to use that word. Was Starr really someone she could consider a friend? And it was worse when it came to the pink haired girl; she was passed out and doesn’t even know who she is. It’s not like someone had the obligation to become friends with you if you save their lives. But Wish still didn’t want to let go of that comfortable, ideal scenario in her head.

Ϟ “I got it, I will send you the coordinates through my network so please check your phone.” Ϟ

At that moment, Wish was able to feel something vibrating inside her pocket. After pulling out her phone, there was a map of the city. It used a star to show her current location and another one to mark where the house she had to visit was.

Looking at this, Faith brought a hand to his chin. He didn’t know what was going on but listening to Wish’s response was enough for him to be able to make a lot of guesses. It looked like he was going to have to stick around with this girl for a little longer.

But that’s when something changed.

It was a tiny, small change in the environment but that was more than enough for Wish’s sixth sense to pick it up. The blonde girl turned around startled. Looking at her sudden action, Faith and Viktor did the same.

At that moment the three were able to see a figure that approached them in the distance.

It was a tall woman with wavy green hair falling down her shoulders. As she moved in closer, they were able to get a clearer view of her. She wore a white coat that made her look like a doctor and matching white pants. Even if that wasn’t the intention, her clothes still made her impressive curves stand out. Even if all she did was to walk forward, she took every step with elegance. Anyone looking at her would feel the incredible pressure of a queen approaching them closer and closer.

But as she looked at the girl, something new startled Wish. There was a sudden reaction coming out of her weapon. Wish’s sword- the Scarlet Satellite, was a weapon that was able to hide its blade. Whenever it did, the hole containing the blade could be covered up by four scarlet-colored decorations that resembled flower petals. Of course, once the blade came out, these decorations would spread out like flowers in full bloom.

However, right now, even though the blade was still dormant. One of the petals had spread out from the hilt of Wish’s blade. This petal had become shrouded by a shining light of green color. Even if this weapon was one of the catalysts for being able to attain the Scarlet Outburst, this was a completely new and unknown reaction for the blonde girl.

“Good, it seems like you are still here.” The green haired woman spoke.

The moment Wish looked up she realized she now stood in front of them. Somehow she had traveled a really long distance in the moment it took Wish to check on her weapon. However, by the looks on Faith and Viktor’s faces, she had done something in order to reach this place much faster.

“My name is Noa Caelum.” The woman introduced herself. She spoke in a calm manner with a really elegant, husky voice. “I’m really sorry if this is too sudden but I have some questions I would like you to answer for me.”

“What is it?” Faith responded almost immediately.

He was well aware that if it came down to it, he was in no state to properly fight someone. Keeping up the act and trying to intimidate her was the best possible option. Then again, having someone as unpredictable as Wish around made him a little nervous about all this.

“Hm.” The green haired doctor brought a hand to her chin and examined the place around her. There was destruction everywhere; it was hard to tell this had been a beautiful plaza at all. “This place is really wrecked, huh? But I’ll go to the point. What happened here and the unnatural red light that rose into the skies like a fountain, that was you, wasn’t it?”

Faith and Wish both tensed up a little. The woman before them had witnessed the Scarlet Outburst. They had been thankful that Viktor hadn’t brought it up; it wasn’t something they could easily discuss with just anyone.

“I don’t know what you are talking about.” Faith glared into her eyes. “We were just passing by.”

“Really?” Noa scoffed at him.

Whatever attempt he had made to intimidate her was futile. Even with Faith’s deathly glare locked into her eyes, she didn’t care much. The green haired doctor instead brought a hand to her cheek and let out a yawn.

“I was trying to get this done nice and easy but you are the ones making it difficult, don’t forget that, alright?”

“Sorry!” Wish jumped in. She wasn’t sure of how to react but remaining quiet didn’t seem to be a good option. “We are just enthusiasts of destroyed places!! So we came here to check out the place because we love creepy places!!”

“Huh?” Noa brought a finger to her mouth. “How would you know this was a destroyed place? This was nothing more than a regular plaza until a few hours ago.”

“Oops.” Wish whispered under her breath and then pushed Viktor in front of her. “Baton pass!!”

“Eh?!” The blonde boy looked at her with desperation in his eyes. “Ahem. Yes, it is as you say. But I have been here with them and they didn’t do anything.”

“Man, you people really suck at lying!” Noa laughed and then crossed her arms. “Is it because you think others won’t believe you if you talk about supernatural phenomena? Here, I’ll put you at ease.”

With a snap of her fingers, a bright, golden light ran across the entire plaza and in the blink of an eye, the destruction was nowhere to be seen anymore. It had gone back to being a peaceful, regular plaza. Even the water continued to flow regularly out of the fountain.

“That was Alchemy, the power of creation. Even if this place was destructed the materials to remake the plaza were still here, I simply used them to give form to something new. You just saw it with your own eyes so you can’t tell me you don’t believe in what I just said.” And then, she took a step forward. “That being said, I would prefer to keep the city safe. I can’t allow someone who uses phenomena I’m not aware of to roam around the city. Now, will you tell me what happened here, or will I have to beat it out of you?”

There was no doubt that this woman meant business. Not only that but it was the first time Wish had been able to witness something like the power of creation with her own eyes. While it’s true she could tap into something like Scarlet Outburst, for both her and Faith it was something that they had become accustomed to. This was on another level. For someone to be able to repair this level of destruction like it was nothing, this wasn’t the kind of person they would want to fight, not even at their full strength.

But even then… to tell her the secret of their technique, there were many reasons why that wasn’t possible. There were many reasons why it was better for them to stay quiet. Because if she didn’t, there was no telling what could happen. Because if she didn’t, then they wouldn’t stay quiet about it and find her again.

A simple glance at Wish’s face was enough for Faith to understand what went through her head. As such, he wasn’t going to say anything either, even if this was a deadly situation, this may have been a much safer option.

“I already told you.” This time the boy pulled out his gun. “I don’t know what you are talking about.”

“Fine then.” Noa cracked her fingers. “If you want to get violent, so be it.”

“W-Wait a second!!”

Faith and Wish looked at each other before realizing the one who spoke up was Viktor.

The blonde boy walked forward with trembling legs. He clenched his fists, rolled up his sleeves and then looked straight into Noa’s eyes.

“Don’t worry, if she wants to hurt you she will have to get past me first!”

“Oh?”

Could this be the way out that they needed? Was this blonde boy about to release a hidden power that could get them out of this situation? Did he have the means to distract the woman enough to give them an escape route?

…

Less than five seconds later.

The blonde boy collapsed in the ground followed by his broken glasses which fell to the side.

“That’s one down, two to go!” Noa used her hand to shake away the dust from her clothes. “Now, you two are the most dangerous ones, aren’t you? If we are going to do it, make it fun for me!”

“Tch.” Despite how heavy his body felt, Faith realized there was no running away from this. He reached out for his special Burst Bullets and re-loaded his gun. “Fine then, let’s do it!”

“Hm.” Noa brought a hand to her chin. “I don’t want the city to take any more damage however; it looks like I’ll have to shake things up a bit.”

“?”

Wish knew something was coming. Her sixth sense was reacting again. But what was coming? Was in an attack? Was it something related to that woman’s Alchemy again? Somehow, she felt a really big urge to get away from there. But Faith didn’t have that sixth sense, he wouldn’t be able to react in time for whatever was about to happen next.

“Faith-!!” She tried to call out to him.

But it all happened in an instant. Two lines made of shining green light rose up from the floor and began to enclose them as they formed a circle. Wish had barely jumped out of the range because of her instinct but… Faith’s reaction had not accounted for him to escape. Instead, he hurled a silver tube to the blonde girl.

The moment she caught the tube in her hands, Faith was completely engulfed into the area inside the green circle of light. Of course, this didn’t mean that she was already all out of danger.

Wish clicked the button in the tube and hurled it into the air. It was a Silver Memory, one of May’s inventions. They worked as containers, allowing someone to carry any kind of object no matter how big with ease. To her surprise, the object that came out of this memory was her own motorcycle. It was likely that May had gathered it after her crash with Faith and fixed it. Either way, this wasn’t the time to think too much about it; Wish knew something was coming her way.

She pulled out her keys as she jumped up into the air. In one swift movement she turned on the vehicle the moment she landed and dashed away at full speed. Just like expected however, a shining green light spread from the circle that had engulfed Faith and Viktor inside and chased her at a really high speed.

Wish frowned as she escaped deeper and deeper into the city, no matter how much she tried to accelerate, the mysterious green light was able to easily keep up with her. If that thing managed to catch her, it wouldn’t be pretty at all. But there was something bothering her, even in the midst of this chase, she couldn’t shake away the feeling she was doing something wrong.

And that’s when it hit her, remembering the map that May had sent, she was going in the opposite direction of where she was supposed to go. So what now? Should she continue to aimlessly run away from the light, or should she try to escape while going to her destination at the same time? This would mean rushing right back where that woman was and somehow going past that circle of light to get to the other side. Anyone would have told her that taking such action would be stupid, that there was no point to it without a plan, but Wish wasn’t the kind to let herself be guided by common sense. All she had to do was to find a way to break though.

Looking at the light through the mirror of her vehicle, Wish did a sudden U-turn. It seemed like the light was only able to follow her in a straight line as it did a similar motion to continue chasing her. Wish passed by fragmented trails of dispersed light as she rushed right back to the center of the attack.

Her last bet in making it out of here was going to be all up to chance. Looking at the color of this light properly and the color of the petal that had appeared on her weapon, it was the exact same. She didn’t know anything about something like Alchemy but it was true that the Scarlet Satellite had supernatural properties. It was a sword that was able to withstand the full attacks from the core of lightning after all.

Just like Faith’s vehicle, Wish’s functioned with advanced technology as well. On the front, right by the handles, there was a screen with buttons that showed her information like her speed, the distance, and it seemed like May had installed a map with the layout of the city in it as well. However, there was something below that screen; it looked like a hole for something to fit inside. That was something that had always been there, and it’s not like she had never messed with it but she had never gotten it to react.

In a way, you could call this an experiment, and if that experiment didn’t work that would be the end of that.

The grand circle of light came into Wish’s view. Her entire figure was illuminated by the light’s reflection as she rushed in closer and closer it into it.

This was it, there was no time to think, she simply had to do it.

The blonde girl pulled out her weapon with one hand, she pressed the button that allowed the sharp blade to shoot out of its hilt, and then, she forced the sword into the slot in her motorcycle. She was able to hear a clicking sound, letting her know that it had connected properly.

But there was still no response.

At this point, anyone else would have given up. Anyone else would have accepted that it was all over.

But Wish wasn’t like anyone else. She was the odd one out who lived in her own world after all.

“Haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!!!” She let out a yell as she floored the speed of her motorcycle.

And just when she was about to crash into the circle of light, her fingers touched the green petal that shone from the tilt of her weapon. At that moment, her entire vehicle let out a massive flash of light. And instead of crashing head on against the supernatural phenomena, she found herself moving faster and faster across the air.

But it wasn’t accurate to say that she was simply flying across the sky. Part of the ground below her had shot up and continued to extend as a bridge, allowing her to move forward at full speed high above the circle of light.

As she passed by from high above, she managed to get a glimpse of Faith who stared back at her with a smirk and Viktor who stood up again, giving her thumbs up. Even if both were still trapped inside with the green haired woman, it was a victory for them to let Wish escape.

The doctor frowned at the realization that one of them had gotten away, but after realizing what direction she was headed to, a smile appeared in her face. Even if she could have continued to chase her, that didn’t matter.

And so, the blonde haired girl reached solid ground once again and advanced at full speed towards her destination. She didn’t know if this was the right thing to do, but she wouldn’t have been able to escape through her own means. It was thanks to Faith who had given her an opening by handing her this vehicle and thanks to May who had worked to repair it, she couldn’t let them down no matter what.