Spirit Pulse : Mugen No Sekai [IC]

[Katie]

Ayra Lilygrove
Saint Vivienne ~ Dormitories
11/16/2026
Monday - Night

Aster: Are you sure everything is fine?

The feeling’s subsided. Everything’s fine.

Aster: …Alright.

With a sigh, Ayra wonders how to wake the sleeping girl. Maybe she should have asked Ms. Ellet about that cognitohazard—it certainly seemed useful right now. But if Aislynn was someone from outside the world, would such a fundamental symbol even work on her? Who knows. Besides, she hadn’t exhausted all her options yet.

It’s interesting, she thinks, about how she has to struggle to restrain herself when casting. As a novice, you often struggle to push a spell to its full output, let alone the appropriate one. Now, though, undertuning a spell felt so awkward, like deliberately demonstrating bad footwork. Good habits, the ones that keep you alive and healthy, are hard to get rid of.

The Garu spell manifests in her hands. A small puff of warm air assaults Aislynn’s face, like taking clothes fresh out of the dryer.

If that doesn’t wake her up, well, there’s certainly more in the cards.

[Satehi]

Eva Ellet
Saint Vivienne ~ Forest Outskirts
11/16/2026
Monday - Evening

Shadows were supposedly related to repressed thoughts.

As for what that would mean for Catherine, Eva didn’t have the slightest clue. Catherine had always seemed like she went through life without many doubts at all. She always knew what to do, in Eva’s mind. The revelation that she had a shadow at all had been a big surprise.

She certainly couldn’t have imagined that her shadow was like… this.

It was troubling.

Not that there was anything wrong in particular with Shadow Catherine. On the contrary, she seemed like an agreeable individual, far more benevolent than she would have expected from an entity that was apparently a bane on Catherine’s existence…

… and that was troubling.

What did Catherine find disagreeable about these thoughts…?

Were this under other circumstances, Eva might have been tempted to ask Shadow Catherine directly. Some of her earlier words about Catherine’s family suggested the root cause- and while she doubted it would be the most unbiased reference, it would have been information nonetheless.

But- and she was sorry to Catherine for this- there were more pressing affairs at the moment. Like getting out of this safe, finding out what was going on- two things that would be helped greatly not only by focusing on the situation at hand, but also making sure not to agitate the only person around who knew what to do.

And so, she kept quiet for now.

The information regarding Liesl’s weapons was interesting. She filed it away in her memory for later use.

"Stick close to me~ These dreams have a lot of weird... Rules to em, staying in any one place for too long is a bad idea~"

“I see… I don’t have much experience with this type of dream, so I’ll follow your lead.”

Nodding to show that she understood, she followed Shadow Catherine.

[Verg Avesta]

Blaise Pendragon
Tokyo, Aoyama ~ Brick Lane (Smokey Island Bakery)
11/16/2026
Monday - Morning

Blaise chuckled.

"Nah, that's alright. I can handle it on my own," he replied with another stoic smile. "Or rather, I should handle it on my own. You know how it is."

The trouble would be if she didn't know how it was. Or rather, if she insisted even so. Mrs. Mokujima was one of those types that Blaise had a hard time saying no to, and thus, he would have to be verbally nimble here lest he was derailed from his intended path before it could even begin. Naturally he could always just talk about Tsukiko and Isamu, without mentioning his real thoughts.

Making it technically not lying...

... But that was sorta cheating too.

So, instead!

"Oh, wait, actually. There's something you might be able to help me with," Blaise suddenly pivoted the topic. "I've been wanting to take a small-ish trip recently. Clear my head a little bit, maybe go somewhere spiritual. The thing is though, I haven't really been outside of Aoyama since..."

He frowned, the thought really sinking in.

"... Ever, actually," he grunted, before shaking his head. "A-anyways, you wouldn't happen to know any nice places I might visit? Maybe shrines or temples where you can do a little meditation? Maybe some spiritually strong locations good for that sort of stuff?"

It was a bit of a long shot, considering the normalcy of Mrs. Mokujima. Then again, you never knew with the people of Brick Lane...

"And, uh, what comes to Chris-nee..."

It felt awkward, so Blaise scratched the back of his head. He hadn't thought about the older girl for quite a while now, so it felt sorta embarrassing.

He wasn't blushing was he?

"Just tell her I said hi. We haven't talked in a while, after all."

[Airen]

Blaise Pendragon
Tokyo, Aoyama ~ Brick Lane (Smokey Island Bakery)
11/16/2026
Monday - Morning

"How it is..."

Does she know how it is?

It's a good question, considering the woman's nature. She was a relatively normal person, still an Aoyama resident of course (which was probably where the overabundance of energy came from) but a relatively normal person in the grand scheme of things, so her senses as a parent might be a bit different than those of a more supernatural nature, a bit more questioning of purposeful vagueness, but...

"Ah-!"

A gasp, long and drawn out and about as over-enthusiastic as her other declarations-!

"I see...! I get it! Totally!"

She giggles one more time, like a mom trying to be cool with the kids, before sliding back over to the counter with a cinnamon bun that was just a bit smaller than the entirety of it's plate...

"You are about that age I guess! Craving adventure right? Something you just gotta do for yourself, no hand-holding-! A personal goal you want to meet just for the sake of meeting it-! Like..." She extends an arm to the sky, before closing it into a fist and drawing it down in a dramatic gesture. "I want to be the best baker in Japan-! Or, I've gotta figure out the ultimate form of Soba, so it's time to explore the World-! Something like that, right?"

She sits down, pleasantly smiling at you, and...

Was that it?

It was... Sorta close, right?

She seemed awfully pleased with herself regardless, smile a bit too triumphant... Still...

"But hmm..."

She fishes a small book out of her pocket. It's a little black book labeled "Mom Friend Meeting Notes" which is a little ominous in and of itself, as are the tags that go from A to Z on it, but...

"You've never gone too far from home... A starter journey... spiritual place..."

She hums to herself in thought, not the sort of thought of a person that doesn't know what you're talking about, but the sort of hum of someone who is having to work hard to recall knowledge she normally doesn't use...

Or...

Perhaps...

Is hesitating to use for some reason?

Regardless...

"Mount Fuji perhaps?"

In the end, she lists an obvious sort of location...

"It's one of the three Holy Mountains, and the Fujisan Hongū Sengen Taisha is there... It's more traditionally spiritual than Aoyama is, so it might be a good place to meditate!"

The cheerful smile widens.

"I think that strange doctor that used to live around here moved to that shrine too, so you might even find a friendly face!"

...Doctor?

Friendly face?

Someone like that... Doesn't seem to ring a bell...

[Airen]

Ayra Lilygrove
Saint Vivienne ~ Dormitories
11/16/2026
Monday - Night

Gently, wind ruffles the girl's hair.

It's remarkably long, more or less extending down to her waist and so the introduction of a restrained burst of air is one that sends strands flying around her face in a way that just looks ticklish, the sort of vaguely uncomfortable feeling that has people twitching around in their sleep, like tickling their nose with a pillow, and...

"...m..."

She does make a noise, surprisingly enough...

It's just a small thing, a muttered noise in blissful sleep, the unconscious rise of a hand to bat away a force that can't actually be touched through physical means, but...

It falls back down to the couch right afterwards, as the wind falls away to nothing, and...

"..."

Back to no movement.

Is it frustrating? Or just to be expected?

It's a question with a lot of answers, but...

"You know..."

A voice from the other couch reaches you, as Catherine seems to catch on to what you're trying to do...

"Easiest way I've found to wake someone up?"

She says aloud, while keeping her gaze on the screen.

"...Cold water."

Surely not.

That'd just be mean, right?

Are the class president types allowed to suggest those sorts of things?!

[Airen]

Eva Ellet
Saint Vivienne ~ Forest Outskirts
11/16/2026
Monday - Evening

"Hmm well, I wouldn't say I have it figured out exactly either, but it's a lot of common sense stuff most of the time."

Darkness closes in on all sides as you chase after your friend's shadow, darkness of woods that had never been this deep or this dark in the reality. It's a nightmarish sort of setting, branches existing like reaching hands in the darkness, clawing at your body and clothes in ways that almost make them seem like they're alive, but on closer inspection...

Are just branches in the forest.

Scraping past you because of your own movements.

That is what closer examination tells you, and yet...

---The darkness behind you is a bit too dark, even for your sensors. It's also a bit too eager, consciously eager, looking for all the world like it just swallows up the existence behind you both as you walk, making it look impossible to return to where you had first come even if you had wanted to do so, but...

"I don't think the nightmares can get you if you just stay at home, and they're sorta slow until they actually catch up, so you can outrun em if you never stay in any one place for too long. Course, I never have much reason to do much of anything during this time, not used to other people dropping in here with me, so I haven't experimented all that much..."

...It doesn't seem to bother Catherine.

The young woman just keeps chatting away as you walk together, her pace perfectly designed to be just a bit faster than your own at all times...

"Try not to look in mirrors if you can avoid it," she keeps listing things, holding up another finger with each one. "Oh oh, and if it ever gets really cold out of nowhere and you start hearing someone humming Clair de Lune..."

She stops for a moment.

"Run. Understand?"

Golden eyes meet your own, as if wanting to burn these words into you.

"I don't know what the thing doing that is, but my instincts tell me to stay the hell away from it. It doesn't care about rules, so whatever you're doing at the time it's best to just drop it and bolt."

She blinks slowly here, a bit like a cat might when looking at someone it likes, then...

"Do all of that, and you should be fine!"

...She pats you on the shoulder and continues on, serious mood evaporating back to the shadow's normal cheer-!

"We're getting close now, come on-!"

She moves ahead at a jog.

But as you move to follow her once more, pushing through a particularly dense bit of foliage...

...You find yourself not in a forest, but...

A long castle hallway...?

One that blends with the forest in a way that doesn't seem possible in reality, branches literally turning to stone as they move ahead, trees becoming grey brick walls, the airs of the great outdoors replaced with the musty air of what seems like some sort of old castle, small wooden doors lining the walls, with one far more ominous door, big and metallic waiting at the end...

"She ran here... Wherever here is! Dream architecture is always so confusing~"

Seemingly so.

"Her trail kinda cuts off here, but if I had to guess..."

She eyes the door at the end, but...

Makes no movement to approach it.

Instead...

"..."

She just watches you.

[Airen]

Logan Starbright
SLEIPNIR - Hangar Bay (Inside Alexia’s Ship)
11/16/2026
Monday ~ Evening

"Oh it's fine, no need to thank me."

Rice says sincerely, gaze still fixed on the item in her hands.

It's not the usual word-play people do sometimes, where they say they're fine but are just lying through their teeth, she really seems to mean it in this instance so it's probably safe to say that she's not annoyed with you specifically... But the frown on her face is ever-present nonetheless, expression of a person who is disagreeing with whatever they're looking at but also having a hard of explaining in words why that is...

"The stuff we're looking for isn't in here, it's just..."

She mutters something under her breath, something you can't quite catch, then...

"Random avatar data..."

Another mumble.

"Wanted to put me in a baseball cap... What a weirdo... Why are there over one thousand outfit combinations...?"

Wait... Was that it?

Was that what she was so mad about?

Visual inspection of the room shows a variety of books, most by Edgar Rice Burroughs, but some like "Earthlight" and "The Nine Billion Names of God" are by Arthur C. Clarke instead... So it seems like Alexia is pretty into science fiction and fantasy stories... Nothing that you can see with a glance seems to be her own work, she doesn't have any physical journals lying around or anything, although the fact that the books are physically present as paper novels instead of e-novels seems to imply that she prefers physical objects to data, but what does stick out in the room...

Is a simple desktop computer on the other side of it.

It doesn't look particularly special, just a common unit anyone might have at home, but...

"Whatever we want is probably on there..."

Rice is giving it the side-eye...

"Didn't want to start messing with that one till you were here, just in case something pops out of the screen."

She states calmly.

"I'm no good at fighting."

[Tobias]

Raz Stone
Ayamegaoka ~ Streets

"Normal? Me? Baby, I have never been so insulted!" Raz wasn't even sure he was joking, still, he allowed an easy, toothy grin to cross his features so as to take the edge of his rejoinder.

The young magus had a bit to say. 'extraordinaire' was it? well hopefully that meant she could hold her own in a fight. because...

"Well, yes, I am not from around here. Raz Stone, at your service!" Actually, I am not even 100% how I got here or where "here" is. I was chasing some tai....type of girl in leather who herself was chasing a couple of assholes. Thought she might need some back up, and ended up here." Raz ran a hand through his dark hair. Even he knew what a lousy explanation it was, but it was hard to shed light on something he didn't understand himself.

"More importantly! speaking if friends, I lost a couple myself, and so sort of let off a light show on may way here and I kinda assume anything able to read reiki for about a thousand miles knows I am here so uh, on a scale of one two ten, how likely is it we are about to get overwhelmed by zombies? or sexy shadow butterflies? I actually think we probably have some company coming and I'm wondering how many to set the table for!"

After that, Raz stepped up beside her and looked at the ominous moon. "I am not going to lie to you sugarplum, it actually surprises me quite a bit to hear this is new. What with how everyone out there is just wandering around with "Apathy Syndrome...do you know what that is? If not count yourself lucky. Anyway I would have thought even Apathy cases would be responding to an honest to god Colony Drop. Almost makes me think only visitors can see it. You said you sensed something spiritual? I would give you my own reading but my partner is in the shop" Raz said, holding out the dull, lightless form of the DTG.

[Kuroyuki]

Rossweisse & Hiyori
Tokyo ~ JAXA
11/16/2026
Afternoon

"Bye~ Have fun kids~"

Miss Starbright waved goodbye to us as Hiyori was screaming ‘noooo! my pictures!’ in the background. Even if I was kind of wary of her, it placed me more at ease when there appeared to be a little bit of mischievous aspect to her smile.

Soon after, Miss Charlotte pulled us out of the cafeteria and further down the hallway. Eventually, we got to a… pinpad locked classroom? Or would it be better to describe it as a briefing room considering that we’re at JAXA. They would have better facilities to teach right? Like standing desks with docking stations for increased productivity and innovation. Or holographic projectors that can allow JAXA engineers to manipulate designs in live time.

‘A retro classroom? Miss Smug, you must be super paranoid about people knowing about your baby photos!’

And it looks like Hiyori doesn’t care about hiding her nickname for Miss Charlotte now. Actually when Hiyori places it that way, maybe there was a very particular reason why Miss Charlotte brought us here.

"Okay. Cameras off, audio recorders disabled..."

…Yup. She wanted this conversation to be secretive if she was turning off all of the cameras and audio recorders. But for what re-

“Explain.”

“EEP!”

‘Whoa! A kabedon?!’

After she said that one word, Hiyori and I were suddenly pinned next to a wall. Actually, Hiyori was small enough to where she could fly away. Wait. Wait. She actually did. So I was getting the full blunt of Miss Charlotte’s gaze while remaining pinned to this wall. A very serious and not joking stare mind you combined with the most serious tone that didn't allow for jokes.

"Who the hell are you two? Destruction of Sequential Phenomena is not something random kids say-!"

‘Who we are? WELL! LET ME ENLIGHTEN YOU! I AM -’

“She’s Hiyori and I’m Rossweisse, a spirit tamer. And…”

Hiyori looked like I sucker punched her. In a way I have because if I let her go. She would’ve started posing and spouting out her extravagant titles at the top of her lungs. How do I explain our situation to Miss Charlotte. That one moment we’re on the SLEPNIR and the next moment, we’re here…

‘We’re from a Refraction of Prismatic Essence! And the person who came up with that name was…’

I thought about interrupting Hiyori during her sudden interjection but… I really didn’t have a good way to explain how we knew those words. Meanwhile Hiyori started pointing dramatically up at the sky during her long pause. Eventually, she pointed back down. At first she made it look like she was going to point towards herself but she ended it towards Miss Charlotte.

‘You! Miss Smug upon meeting a refraction of you and me on the SLEPNIR!’

[Rafflesiac]

Logan Starbright
SLEIPNIR - Hangar Bay (Inside Alexia’s Ship)
11/16/2026
Monday ~ Evening

: “Over 1000 combinations? I gotta see this!”

Amelia immediately connects to the tablet to start copying the relevant data. “Baseball cap, baseball cap… Ah, that’s Number 347! Yup, it goes well with the hoodie but… if you add the jeans, then it’s a little unbalanced. Tights would be better. Ooh! Or scrap the hoodie for a lighter shirt or blouse and feed her hair through the snapback as a ponytail! Now that’s sporty style!”

Logan sighs softly, letting his face form a small wry smile. “She must’ve wanted to see the many different sides of you. It’s always the adults who insist on making sure you try on every last thing when shopping for clothes.” Though in my case, that adult was a stylist. He notes Alexia’s taste in literature - fantasy, pulp adventure, science fiction - while Amelia continues assessing the numerous flavors of Rice. Searching fruitlessly for a spy on the moon. God unmaking the stars upon his completion. And then Edgar Rice Burroughs… He glances again at Rice, still lying on the bed with her rainbow hair splayed upon the sheets, and compares her with the silver-haired little girl he’d seen after his temporary fusion with Amelia. That just leaves the mysterious Edgar, then. I’m curious how much Alexia knows about all of this, given her relationship with the Administrators.

Rice shoots a sideways glance at a desktop computer, drawing Logan’s gaze.

"Didn't want to start messing with that one till you were here, just in case something pops out of the screen."

“That’s fine. I’ll handle any combat.” He walks over to the machine and holds Amelia over the keyboard, running her back and forth above its surface without touching the keys. “Amelia, scan the keyboard for residuals. Try identifying likely passwords based on key wear and distinctive terms from the books present. Rice, can you tell me if there are any inconsistencies regarding the hardware? Hidden drives, decoy power switches, and so on.” Logan may be a Spirit Tamer raised in the Magic Age, but he’s well aware that his technological prowess pales before that of an NWAB Spirit Smith.

Once his preparations are complete, he switches on the computer.

[Airen]

Logan Starbright
SLEIPNIR - Hangar Bay (Inside Alexia’s Ship)
11/16/2026
Monday ~ Evening

"Hardware inconsistencies? Nah, she doesn't do that sort of physical stuff."

Rice, who had been looking at Amelia with mild horror now that her fellow A.I has seemingly joined Alexia in using her as a sort of doll to play mental-dress up with, rapidly chooses to latch onto any other aspect of the conversation she can get away with, rolling up onto her feet with an energetic little hop-!

"If she was gonna booby-trap her things, she'd do it in some absurd magical way, she doesn't really think like normal people do I think... More like a fae than a human being that way, a chaotic genius. It's why I figure if something's gonna happen it'll be like... Some demon designed to come out of the screen when you turn it on, seems like the sort of thing she'd do..."

The rainbow-haired girl continues to give the computer the side-eye as you do the basic checks, far as Amelia can tell this keyboard hasn't suffered any notable wear and tear at all, possibly the result of some sort of enchantment on it to mitigate damage, or a strange obsession with constantly replacing all of the keys for some reason, but...

"Don't worry about the password, if it comes down to it, I'll brute force that too!"

Rice offers her support in this regard, standing just behind you now in that way kids often do, peering around your waist at the screen, eyes narrowed at it like she really does expect something to pop out of it when you press the button, and-

"HIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII~"

-a voice certainly does-!

Low-pitched but loud, a feminine voice that comes booming out of the nearby speakers at maximum volume without a single care for the hearing of any of the people in the room-! Rice jumps at the sound, slipping behind you all the way and looking for all the world as if she was struggling to not grab at your waist or leg in a security cling, while you-!

"Logan! Amelia! Riceeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee~!"

Find yourself staring down what seems to be a hologram of Alexia Wright herself...

"Broke into my ship didja? Went for it faster than I thought you guys would, I gotta say! Didn't think you kids had any delinquent bones in your bodies, but you proved me wrong-! Nice! Sometimes you gotta break the rules, it's a decent lesson-!"

Or rather, what you're only sorta sure is some sort of hologram...

It also feels a bit like a ghost? Like you could maybe reach out and touch her and she might be real?

Nevertheless...

"Y-youuuuuuuu!"

Rice, having recognized the appearance of her creator, leaps out from behind you and casts a judgemental pointer finger the brunette's way-!

"Why are you like this?! Were you really just sitting inside of your own computer waiting to jump-scare people?! Do you have no shame?! Nothing better to do?! Act like a normal person for once-!"

"I refuse!"

Declares Alexia (?) childishly, returning a finger point with a finger point.

"Kids learn better when the teacher is animated! Excited! Pumped up! Ready for life!"

She exclaims, very loudly, before her eyes lock onto you.

"Am I right, Logan? You get it right?! Aren't the knights the same way?! Do everything at one-hundred and twenty percent capacity-!"

Well, whether she was right or not...

This was certainly going in a bizarre direction...!

[Airen]

Rossweisse & Hiyori
Tokyo ~ JAXA
11/16/2026
Afternoon

"..."

Charlotte stares.

An intense stare that no longer responds to jokes or humorous movements, one that simply lets everything roll over her without a care in the world, as if her earlier more affable persona had just been an act put on for the sake of her aunt. Vibrant blue eyes stare deeply into your own, turning away to regard Hiyori only for a moment when she speaks, before that deep gaze burns back into you with a force that makes you distinctly uncomfortable, because it's the gaze of a person that is weighing two different options in her mind right now, and one of them...

---Doesn't seem particularly pleasant.

Still, her figure is more or less impeccable... The muscles of the her outstretched arm are well-defined to the eyes, as are her abdominal muscles now that you're so close... For someone who was apparently obscenely wealthy because of her mind it was a strange mark of worldliness, a sign that this person wasn't exactly the fragile heiress sort, although considering how her response to the strange assailant on the ship had sounded an awful lot like some sort of suplex, perhaps Charlotte being a bit of a physical bruiser at heart wouldn't be strange to Hiyori, but finally, after a painful (from your end) sort of silence, she...

"Refraction of Prismatic Essence...? The hell was I doing, trying to show off? Then again, that does sound like something I would do..."

...Mutters this to herself, before finally drawing her arm back to her side, freeing you from your rather intimidating prison.

"Why couldn't I just say manifest possibility like a normal person? Unless it was for the sake of pissing myself off?"

She grimaces.

"Sounds like something I would do... Damn, I really need to kick my own ass..."

She sighs at this bizarre threat to an alternate self, before throwing herself backwards onto one of the tables, landing with one leg crossed over the other with absolutely perfect poise. It's an impressively graceful landing, or at least it would have been one, if her immediate move after this wasn't to draw one hand up to her head in the classical sign of a growing migraine, which sorta throws off the graceful empress look a little, although the casual swearing had already damaged it a bit-!

"But okay, so you're saying you're from a different 'possibility,' we knew each other inside of that possibility and the little doll and I somehow ran into ourselves while we were there? That should be pretty much impossible, but... Destruction of Sequential Phenomena would mean that we're no longer operating on a proper timeline..."

Ah...

She's started muttering things more to herself than to you now, voice getting quieter and quieter as her brain kicks into overdrive and her eyes lose their focus on you both...

Seems like she's the type that gets distracted by her own thoughts easily...

[Airen]

Raz Stone
Ayamegaoka ~ Streets
??/??/????
Afternoon (?)

"..."

At first, she doesn't seem to know how to respond to you. Indeed, it seems that somewhere around the first utterance of 'Baby' is where a strangely nervous smile had taken root on the brunette's face. Of course such a thing isn't entirely out of the ordinary, you were the sort of person that got interesting responses from most of the people you met, responses that typically let you know how your relationship with that person was probably gonna go, and in your experience, the ones that got nervous, well...

They got so because they were a little stunned by you, in other words-!

She just doesn't know how to react yet-!

She blinks, looks around a little as if the answer to her problems might be hidden in the swirling winds or crimson sky, although when you hold out the DTG to her, she-

"...Hmm?"

-does look at it with some interest.

"A miracle? No... It's similar but I don't recognize the core... Huh, neat..."

She blinks again, then straightens her back a bit.

"Definitely not from around here! But that's okay! I'm not either! My friends and I came here from a different world entirely, and it looks like the same is true for you!"

Where once she was confused, now she seems to have regained some of her normal cheer-! Intelligent lights sparkle in her eyes for a moment, although the more she thinks on your other words, the more of a troubled smile begins to emerge from beneath the cheerful one...

"Although from the sound of it it wasn't purposeful on your end..." She grimaces, then gestures towards the sky once more, "I can say we're probably not going to be rushed by monsters or anything, at least not yet, this city was pretty normal yesterday, no zombies or shadow butterflies... Well, I guess there's that one house on the hill that might have monsters in it, but other than that it's fine-! We should be okay for now!"

A hand goes towards the sky in victory.

But only for a moment, yes, as she looks up at her own outstretched hand, and with it the bizarre black moon...

"...Although when you say you lost your friends... Were you talking about some sort of flying stage... Is that how you guys got here...?"

Slowly.

Slowly.

The hand descends, she looks you in the eyes, and...

"...Because I saw something like that crash into this... Gate..."

...Eyes the giant sphere with newfound worry.

---That would certainly explain where the stage went, huh?

[Satehi]

Eva Ellet
Saint Vivienne ~ Forest Outskirts
11/16/2026
Monday - Evening

Weird place.

That was the extent of Eva Ellet’s reaction to the bizarre mix of forest and castle.

If she still thought of this place as normal reality, then perhaps it would have provoked a stronger reaction- but since Catherine had let her know quite clearly that this was a dream, that was it.

A part of it was the fact she had experienced weird dreams before – the Velvet room came to mind.

But the bigger part of it was the fact that Catherine was here. She knew the situation, and had given Eva instructions to follow to keep out of trouble. Eva trusted Catherine to be correct, and following clear cut instructions like this was not a concern for her.

It was, admittedly, a bit different from the Catherine she was familiar with, but it was Catherine nonetheless.

That single fact made her unfazed even at the sight of this bizarre blend of the natural and artificial, and despite her earlier panicking, she was calm even when Catherine was giving her warnings about the dangers of this place.

Liesl had to be behind this door.

That meant her course of action was obvious.

“Well, then…”

Moving closer to the door, she glanced at Catherine.

“Let’s go?”

[Kuroyuki]

Rossweisse & Hiyori
Tokyo ~ JAXA
11/16/2026
Afternoon

As Miss Charlotte stared deeply at me more and more, I started getting more and more uncomfortable. As if sensing my discomfort, Hiyori started winding up her arms to hit Miss Charlotte. I started shaking my head rapidly towards Hiyori. Miss Charlotte already seemed like she was deciding on whether she wanted to be nice or very… unnice to us. I’m sure we would be fine since we’re a Spirit Tamer. Maybe… From how Hiyori described her, she might be some kind of super scientist who had some serious OOP weapons on her. And OOP weapons are something you want to dodge, not take.

And I was pinned by a very muscular super scientist who had said weapons to a wall by a kabedon… If Hiyori was pinned down with me, she probably would’ve remarked on how overloaded Miss Charlotte was and how most heiress types would’ve stopped at strong weapons and being smart. Reality told me that Miss Charlotte was that and more.

"Refraction of Prismatic Essence...? The hell was I doing, trying to show off? Then again, that does sound like something I would do… Why couldn't I just say manifest possibility like a normal person? Unless it was for the sake of pissing myself off? Sounds like something I would do... Damn, I really need to kick my own ass..."

‘Yup and we one-upped our alternate selves like Rigid Rabbit and Matsuricon versus Solution Rabbit and Repeating Cougar! They were always one step behind us!’

…I can only assume Hiyori wasn’t exactly thrilled meeting herself. While she would get along with someone similar to her, she probably wouldn’t get along with someone exactly like her. However, unlike Hiyori, Miss Charlotte was getting more and more stressed out. As she stepped back and sat down to make the traditional incoming migraine gesture that every worker was familiar.

"But okay, so you're saying you're from a different 'possibility,' we knew each other inside of that possibility and the little doll and I somehow ran into ourselves while we were there? That should be pretty much impossible, but... Destruction of Sequential Phenomena would mean that we're no longer operating on a proper timeline..."

“Umm… How do I explain this… You mentioned something about everyone being under the Reverie complex?”

That should be the best way to explain our situation right? I wouldn't know how to explain the other reason why we're able to survive the destruction of a refraction.

‘AND WE’RE FROM THE FUTURE!’

…And I have no idea on how to explain that. At least without Miss Charlotte asking some questions.

[Airen]

Rossweisse & Hiyori
Tokyo ~ JAXA
11/16/2026
Afternoon

"Reverie Complex?"

She blinks.

One slow blink, then another slow blink, followed by two more as the gears of her mind start to slowly crunch to a stop. Her expression has moved from strained to blank, like the utterance of those words had triggered something inside of her mind, swept away all normal thoughts and left only something else in it's place, to the point where you don't think she even registers that screaming bit about the future, yes...

"Oh, that's not good."

In the end, that's the first thing she says in response to your declaration. She says it smoothly of course, voice carrying the usual hints of innate smugness in spite of the fact her face has gone from blank to migraine in a nanosecond, like she wanted to let out a bit of a crazy laugh, but the moment passes without her doing so...

"That means this is all a purely cognitive realm, great. Fantastic. We really aren't inside of a proper timeline, just a mashed together collection of dream worlds! I know the theory for this timeline-altering nonsense is sound, but whoever flipped the switch on this one must have been really desperate if they decided to go ahead and just use an untested device-! It only works in theory!"

She sounds slightly mad, even though you sorta get the feeling that it's not for the stated reasons...

"It's an outrage! How was I not told about this?! I helped build the prototype, so I wanted to be around to turn the damn thing on if we decided to use it! Was it Leah?! Did Leah decide to just turn it on by herself consequences be damned- wait..."

She pauses mid (motive revealing) rant to simply ask...

"...What's this about being from the future?"

Seems she finally processed that bit of information.

"You really shouldn't scream those sorts of things that loudly, it's dangerous."

[Airen]

Ludwig Karlfeldt
Seaside Hotel ~ Lobby
11/16/2026
Monday ~ Evening
Weather: Snowstorm

"..."

At first, the smaller girl doesn't say anything to you.

Perhaps because she senses you're having a bit of a dramatic moment here, Burroughs shows a remarkable amount of patience in the face of your convictions, letting you reach the end of it all before you turn a certain question back onto her, questioning her motives for continuing to exist in this rather cruel role, but...

"..."

She still doesn't answer straight away.

No, the smaller girl just blinks at you for a moment, before slowly walking right up to you. She does it without fear and seemingly without conscious emotion, your ESP getting absolutely no sign of any sort of intent from her the entire time, only for her to reach you, slowly float up into the air at a pace that was almost comedically glacial, raise up one of her arms, and...

"No."

Bops you on the head once, lightly, like an adult scolding a child...

A bit of a... Reversed situation... If one were to look at it from afar...

"I'm not saying ignore the people that need help, but I am saying don't go tossing yourself into curse pits just because of how you were raised-! That's dumb! None of you need to do it-!"

Are you...

Are you being scolded right now?!

By a child?!

"Stubborn! Stubborn!"

She jabs you in the chest twice.

It doesn't hurt physically.

Emotionally, well... Who can say but you?

"Find a different way to do it! Make up with the other two and get their help with everything else! Dismantle the house if you have to so they can't just start it over again! You don't have to solve the big problems right away! Solving smaller ones can help with the bigger ones! Patience is a virtue!"

Yep.

A girl less than half your size is definitely...

Scolding you.

[Verg Avesta]

Blaise Pendragon
Tokyo, Aoyama ~ Brick Lane (Smokey Island Bakery)
11/16/2026
Monday - Morning

Mount Fuji, huh...

Certainly, it was easy enough to find. Blaise literally couldn't get lost on his way there... or so he hoped, at least. It was a mountain, right? On the horizon? It's not like it would just disappear on him and get him lost. The world wasn't that weird of a place yet, was it? Besides, even if he didn't take a train or a bus there, the mountain seemed pretty close when you looked at it from Tokyo.

You could just walk there... right?

Also, that temple name sounded rather venerable. An ancient temple, traditionally spiritual (none of this Aoyama weirdness), and being one of the three holy mountains of Japan...

... Perhaps it was just what he needed?

Though, there was still the matter of:

"Doctor...?"

Blaise frowned in thought.

He didn't really know any local doctors, especially strange ones. Or ones who would be familiar faces. Was it someone who had lived here before, during the time that he... couldn't remember anymore? Or had he just genuinely not realized some doctor who had lived here? Still, a strange doctor... a strange, friendly, strange doctor... a strange doctor...

Suddenly, it appeared in Blaise's mind.

--- Pale white thighs.

He frowned harder.

"Have had some... bad... run-ins with doctors lately..." He said and bit into his cinnamon roll. "You sure this guy is... relatively normal?"

... The bun was good.

Amazing, even.

He tore into it with even more gusto.

[Airen]

Blaise Pendragon
Tokyo, Aoyama ~ Brick Lane (Smokey Island Bakery)
11/16/2026
Monday - Morning

"Bad run-ins you say?"

She asks, raising an eyebrow before diving back into the ominous black book. She flips around in it for awhile, a smile slowly crossing her face as you devour the sinfully sweet bun, one that seems to banish the lingering coldness of the night before with a ferociousness that only sweets can truly deploy-!

"Ah, that bit with the school Nurse and the cave, yes... That woman is a bit strange..."

She smiles sympathetically, the book snapping closed with a small but weighty clap. Of course, the fact that she seems to know exactly what you're referring to is worrying, especially when combined with the book, since it seems to imply that all the moms in this town are in some sort of shadow cabal with each other, but-!

"But Dr. Iwakasa isn't anything like Irmina, she's a bit too... Fantastical," the older woman frowns slightly, shaking her head, "I think she plays into the nurse fantasies teenagers have on purpose to get them to pay attention, not a bad woman -I checked- but she's a little reckless. Course she came to this town from falling out of the sky, so I guess it'd be a bit unfair to expect her to be entirely normal, talks a lot about floating sky cities... Bit of a dreamer."

She waves a hand slowly before letting it fall back onto the table, expression returning to the usual pleasant smile-!

"But yes, I think you'd like Dr. Iwakasa! He was the Ryuumonbuchi family physician for awhile, a very old-fashioned man, quite traditional, quiet but completely unshakeable." She chuckles to herself at this, the memories apparently eliciting a nostalgic sort of amusement, "I'm a bit surprised you don't remember, you were young back then yeah... But I think he's the one who first taught you how to play mahjong..."

She pauses here to think, making a vague humming sound as she does, before...

"Although I must say... I think he lied to you about CD players still being relevant today dear, that man was stuck in the past." She snorts. "Him and my husband too, trying in vain to revive old computers, VCRs, Cassette Players..."

[Verg Avesta]

Blaise Pendragon
Tokyo, Aoyama ~ Brick Lane (Smokey Island Bakery)
11/16/2026
Monday - Morning

"... CD players aren't relevant?"

What was this woman talking about?

There was a stark difference when it came to listening to music from your COMP and listening to it from something actually meant for the task, like a tape deck or a CD player. Hell, vinyl was a thing too, wasn't it? Not to mention all the music you could find through a COMP was the new, modern stuff that was just... eugh. Blaise didn't even want to think about it. Too many pop idols. There was that blue-haired one that just, for some reason, was absolutely everywhere these days...

But more importantly.

"No, wait... this Dr. Iwakasa was Ane-san's physician?" Blaise asked, his eyebrows reaching for his hairline. "That's... weird. I think I would remember someone like that. But then again, I guess it's been a while..."

He tried to think back on those days, when he had been spending far more time at the Ryuumonbuchi Estate. Ane-san, their leader, was a friend of his old man... though for some reason, there was always something awkward about it. His mother's smile was a bit forced whenever they visited. Sure enough, Ane-san had introduced Blaise himself to the concepts of what it meant being a man, what it meant to have chivalry, but as for the other stuff...

... Was he really taught mahjong by a man he didn't even remember?

"Still, if he's someone Ane-san trusted then..." Blaise paused, taking a bite out of his cinnamon roll - the last one, actually. "... I guess he wouldn't be a bad person to look up, see if he could help out."

Though that name, Iwakasa...

... Why did it bother him so much?

Like there was something he should be remembering right about now - something that happened quite recently.

Or perhaps, some sort of symbolism...