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"Ah?! Reaaally~?" Lucy beamed a smile to Maria, a light blush coloring her cheeks. "Then we'll plan something for tomorrow night, too! Just for the two of us~"

Lucy moved to stand mid-way between Maria and Rose, and was barely able to contain her excitement. Ever the energetic one, she wiggled back and forth in place. "So come on, let's go, let's go!! ...Well, um, Maria... where are we going?" Lucy stopped moving for a moment, tilting her head to the side in thought. "I'm not too familiar with anything on or off the campus, so you'll have to be the tour guide tonight! We should definitely go somewhere to eat, and maybe find someplace to shop, and...!" She paused for a second time, yet another thought occurring to her. "Hey, maybe we can ask around about these cards, too? Somebody has to know something, right? They must have some purpose!"

"Oh! I know! Maybe some kind of masked hero snuck into our bedrooms at night and placed the cards there! He wants us to be his sidekicks and the cards will give us superpowers! And then, we can use them to form our own superhero team and go fight crime in the city! It'll be just like one of those weird cartoons!"


====


Reimu followed Yumi's lead once again, allowing the shorter girl to guide them towards the gymnasium at her own suggestion. Her hunch had paid off; the building was empty. This will be the perfect place to test the abilities of these strange artifacts in privacy.

The two girls walked to the center of the building, parting hands for the final time and standing at an even distance away from each other, on "either side of the ring", so to speak. Reimu freed her shoulders of her backpack and reached inside the main zipper, withdrawing her own deck for the first time. Yumi would be the first person, besides Reimu herself, to ever see the Hakurei child's cards.

Reimu casually tossed the backpack to the side of the room, and took a position opposite of Yumi. "A 'spell card duel'? That sounds ridiculous, you kn--?!!" Reimu held the deck forward, just as Yumi did. The encasing field expanded into view suddenly, locking them within its boundaries. Reimu let out a gasp as she felt the cards tingle beneath her fingertips, the sensation flowing up her arm and into her very core. She felt light, like she was floating on a cloud, and an overwhelming multi-colored light edged along the periphery of her vision. The light also consumed the red, white and black school clothes she was wearing.
She could feel the fabric unravel on her body, then re-weave itself in a different form. Her sneakers become boots of hardened leather; her shirt grew and shifted, becoming a reagal sleeveless longcoat with a belt fastening it shut; and her sleeves lengthened and covered the majority of her arms, nearly covering her hands - though, oddly enough, it left her shoulders exposed. Lastly, her hair lengthened, forcing the Hakurei child to brush the bangs from her face to one side, while her now longer ponytail reached to the small of her back.

"This... is... absurd..!!" Reimu gasped, still highly confused as the situation unfolded. Just like before, 5 card-shaped manifestations appeared before both her and Yumi. Intuitively, Reimu deduced what must be done, and quickly placed 5 cards into the corresponding slots, while the rest of her deck disappeared in a white mist. "Um... Your move?"


====


The duel... was over. Yuuka was lowered to the ground, the mass of overwhelming magical energy surging from her body began to slowly diminish and disappear into the cool dusk breeze. Her eyes were hidden by her white-streaked bangs, and she stood silent for a moment, unmoving, even as the five cards presented themselves before her. Slowly, Yuuka leveled her gaze with the cards, then with Sorina beyond, and brushed the hair from her eyes. There was a different expression on her face than before, no longer carrying the playful and antagonizing characteristics she had displayed just moments ago.

"I'm sorry..? ..." She spoke with an inquisitive tone and much quieter than before, while also sounding very confused. She reached into the breast pocket of her vest and retrieved a pair of black-framed glasses, then moved to effortlessly place them across the bridge of her nose and took a step back from Sorina. The cards before Yuuka admittedly intrigued her, but the cards she possessed would suit her just fine for now. There was no need to collect any until she knew more about them and their mysterious purpose. "...Nevermind. I don't need your cards... They're obviously weak and of no use to me. Now if you'll excuse me..."

Yuuka turned to swiftly leave, her black parasol still gripped tightly in her clenched fist like the weapon it had just been used as, when she spotted the two delinquents blocking the only path leading back down into the school. Nahumar and Noraneko... The only reason Yuuka knew their names was due to their ill reputations; similar to herself, yet for different reasons.

"What?" She stated plainly, hiding behind the lenses of her glasses. "... Let me through. Please." Looking towards the side, Yuuka noticed that the tear in her sleeve had mysteriously been mended... how strange.

As her spell readied its last blast, Hazumi noticed the new alignment. While still in mid are suspended by her own card, she decided to blow the army away. It would be one last bang. She'd show that commander of the ghost army how things ran in the streets.

Still in the orb of light the blonde girl flipped forward manuvering easily with her lite figure. Perfectly aimed, she landed behind Memory, right on the shoulders of one soldier. Exploding the black orb of energy she had gathered, it disipated with a boom of colorful mineral energy.

As the explosion dispersed she turned to stab forward with her knife. If her danmaku didn't get the girl, her knife was her back up. Of course, a reckless move out of Memory's aim and off the soldier left her right inside the enemy territory.

~~~

"We should definitely investigate these cards, but I think a hero squad is a bit farfetched. We'd have enemies to run against right..?" Maria coughed into a fist, before crossing her arms,"For now let's leave research for another time. Mh, yeah some dinner sounds nice. I had thought a local noodle shop. It's cheap and good, and they have the best green tea the town has to offer." To punctuate her sentence she gave a knowing nod. As the editor of the paper she had come to do a report or every local establishment in hopes of encouraging the local economy. It was like prodding a mountain with a tooth pick, but hey it was a good try.

"Once we eat I am sure we can think of some place to go. Lots of people our age go to the karaoke, but I doubt You'd want to be tortured with my singing, besides, the town is large and there is many things to see. We just need to see what we all want to do~"

~~~

Noraneko looked as Yuuka came over. A bit out of place perhaps, she moved the parasol away with her bat, pushing it so it was pointed elsewhere, "I didn't know you , of all people, could hold your own. You are so quiet. Guess I can't mug you that easy~?" She chuckled, ignoring Nahumar and Sorina's little display of family values. Only when she was addressed did she look up. "Ah yeah, seems lots-a people have these cards. Could lead to some big accident or something, so it wouldn't be a bad idea to spread the word, you know?" As she spoke she stopped parrying Yuuka's umbrella, putting her bat across her shoulder blade and holding it with the wrists, "Little women like Miss Yuuka and Miss Sorina could get hurt!"

Once more she chuckled teasingly. Maybe she had no sense of womanhood; if there was a fight, bet on Nora to be there with a bat to crack a few skulls. "Wait till the madman shows up to try and take our souls like in those crazy animes. Then bam. Heroes everywhere. Watch it get crazy up in here if we don't make a tally of whose running around with these cards."

"Ah, noodles?? I love noodles!" Lucy said, beaming still. While not entirely forgetting the issue of the cards, she was just as happy to ignore it for the time being. "And I'd love to hear you sing! You're always so quiet, it'd be a nice change of pace!"

The bubbly blonde bounced over to Rose and wrapped her arms around her arm, tugging her closer to Maria in the process. "What do you think, Rose? Singing sounds fun, right?? Or is there something else you'd like to do? C'mon, speak up! You're quieter than Maria is~!"


====


Reimu watched Yumi take flight, bewildered at the sight of inhuman achievement. Then, she remembered the feeling of weightlessness she was experiencing herself, ever since the transformation. Before any other thought could arise in her mind, Reimu's vision was filled with a bright light, the light coming from Yumi's first star shot. In her mind's eye, the star became a soccer ball, and her honed instincts kicked in; Reimu dove to the side, completely dodging the star danmaku. However, her sudden weightlessness hadn't been taken into account for, and she soon found herself smashing against the side of the barrier wall that encased both combatants.

"Ooww!" Reimu complained as she rubbed her head, blinking the stars from her eyes...

...

Wait, those weren't in her ey-- "OH SH--"

Reimu spun on her own axis, planting her foot against the barrier's wall and pushing off, rocketing herself in the opposite direction from whence she came and narrowly dodging one of the spinning stars. Reimu then rolled across the floor and skidded to a halt on all fours. She squeezed a fist and, between her fingers, four glowing purple needles materialized in her grasp. How she had done this, she didn't know, but it felt somehow instinctual. She squeezed the other fist, and the event repeated. Now armed, Reimu stood and swung one hand, then the other, in Yumi's general direction: the eight needles flew straight, though Reimu's careless placement meant they had a wide pattern with many holes.


====


Yuuka was quiet, even as Nora "clashed weapons" with her. She eyed the delinquent for a moment from behind her lenses, choosing her next words with care. "...There are a lot of things people don't know about me, Miss Okashii. I'm sure you can relate..." She lowered her parasol away from anyone, holding it normally once more. Sorina and Nahumar's display only barely caught her attention, and she peeked at the two out of the corner of her eyes. Judging by the rather irrational outburst, she could only assume that the young man cared for Sorina. How curious...

Nora's "Little women" comment quickly brought about Yuuka's full attention back onto the black-haired girl. Yuuka took a step closer to her, crossing her arms under her modest bust. "In case your perceptions are off, you're only a couple inches taller than me, Okashii. That's hardly something to brag about, nor does that make me 'little'." She let out a small sigh, and took a moment to press her glasses further up the bridge of her nose. "...Just let me through... please. I don't feel very well, and I wish to return to my room."

"Oh things like you collect the souls of your unwary victims in the flowers you care for? Or maybe that you are a dark witch trying to fit into an average school with its strict parameters?" Noraneko chuckled, looking onto Yuuka with a nice grin,"It is not so much as 'people don't know' and more of 'people ignore' and maybr a bit of 'peopl are busy bleeding in the ground with cracked heads' for me, Kazami~"

"Who made you my boss, pretty boy?" Nora threw a glare at Nahumar as he left with Sorina in tow. She scoffed, "The nerve some people have, they win in some ghetto card game and then they wanna boss ye 'round like some sort of mercenary. ...bullshit, who does he think he is... Stupid Pretty boy..." Too busy mumbling to herself, Nora raised and eyebrow as Yuuka stepped up to her with arms crossed and an unhappy look. "If Smiles go a mile, then Inches must go a light year, little gardener. My perception is perfect, though I can probably not say the same for you," she stopped and boldly tapped her finger to Yuuka's glasses mockingly, "And I am not bragging. Hey, My grades may not reflect it, but I am not some idiot; I can speak figuratively too, m'lady~"

It wasn't until Yuuka feeling unwell that Nora sobered some," Oh... Well where is your room? I will make sure you get there safely. If I held you up in here, I don't want to be blamed if you pass out or something, sides,'chances are our dorms are the same way." Moving her bag around she packed her bat, and took the time to push her chemistry text further down into her baseball bag where Yuuka couldn't see it again."Come on then, weren't you in a hurry, Miss Yuuka?"

~~~~

"Yeah, the noodle shop isn't too far from here, Rose, I am sure Lucy will like to see food us 'commoner's buy~" She said teasingly. Of course Maria was no commoner; she herself came from a rich family, but she usually didn't let her family dwell too much into her business. "Its down the street, so come along you two," The school editor begun to lead the way off campus and to the shop she knew well, letting the teo discuss what they wanted to do afterwards.

"I am not quiet, just reserved," Maria responded, as they walked, "There is a time and place for everything; and there is hardly time and place for singin and frolicking like the world is perfect." She really wasn't quiet! She just didn't like the people in her classes or her school. In fact Lucy was her first real friend, and she did like Rose alot, but aside from that, she had not much call for anything.

"Don't worry Rose, Lucy is always jumpy like this, I think you will be fine as long as you don't make her sad~" the kendo captain smiled at the two. At least Lucy seemed to like the idea of Rose coming along!

Yumi watched as Reimu dodged her first attack and then her second and not only that, but she also threw eight needles at her, though, their positioning was rather awful. Nonetheless, Yumi yelped and dashed into one of the gaps in the needles, one of the needles grazing her arm. Yumi gave her arm a quick rub as she thought of her next move. She decided to try another attack, to see if she could. She put her hands close together and focused her energy into them, creating a shining yellow star in them. She then pushed her hands forwards and threw it at Reimu. If it hit anything, it would explode in a fair sized fireball.



Byakuren couldn't help but give a small giggle when Hanalli said she was a superhero and Hanalli was her sidekick. Hanalli then said that maybe Byakuren had done something really bad so people thought she was evil, and that she was in a struggle to contain an evil being by being selfless on her journey to rid herself of it. In a way this felt true to Byakuren, but she didn't know why. She found herself staring down at the table and snapped herself out of her thoughts when Hanalli asked if she still believed in fairies and such. "Hmhm, that's quite a random question." Byakuren giggled, "But yes, I do. I believe in Fairies and creatures like them." Byakuren answered. "Why do you ask?"



Rose gasped as Lucy began to pull her closer to Maria. "Eeep! Oh, um, yes, singing s-sounds fun." She answered, awkwardly. "W-well there's nothing I can really think of to do." She told Lucy. Lucy also told her that she was quieter then Maria was, and she didn't really know what to say to that.

Maria told her that Lucy was jumpy and not to make her sad. "O-okay, I won't!" Rose said, happily. "I'm ready to go whenever you two are." She told Lucy and Maria. Rose didn't think about her cards at all right now, she was just trying her best not to embarrass herself... too badly.

"I-it's nothing! If i told you, I might be labeled as insane." she lightly made a fist on her head and put her tongue out in a playful manner.
"Still...This card. I feel as if this little thing holds a lot of potential or even hiding something. Magic...A world where the long forgotten myths could reside without worry of being forgotten. A land where beasts and humans could live in union. Why does the idea seem so familiar?" Hana looked to her card with such a vacant look. She seemed too focused on the card and what was before them at this time. She even looked like a totally different person.
"Byakuren? Promise me that we will be friends from now on." with such a quick and weird way of saying it, it was as if she would die soon.
---

As Sorina watched from around the corner, she could not believe that a duel between people would end up being so majestic and artful. She enjoyed how the patterns turned out till Reimu pulled some kind of special card. It summoned some kind of energy so bright that it could be considered holy in some way. From the name and the way it was used, it was mean to snare the person in place to harm her health. Sorina slowly inched from the door to fully become embraced by the show before her.
"I could be doing this?" she whispered quietly with eyes wanting to learn. Wanting to know what she could achieve...

---

About this time, Nahumar was in a parking lot where he met another combatant of an unknown nature. The duel was sadly short as he used his fear ability on the person before using his Incubo Spark to win in one single attack. He looked at the cards the person had, scoffing as he took a random card to convert into a new one.
"Pathetic. You don't have any of the Gate Cards." he said. The cold tone and dark attitude was a drastic change from his normal self. As he turn to leave the duelist there to think about what he just faced...the look of shock was on his face for the time being. Nahumar, as he walked down the street and past the building that Hana and Byakuren were eating at, looked at the card he took from Sorina. A sly smile appeared on his lips.
"I feel like there is something grand with this card. It radiates with an Energy that feels...warm and powerful." He took his time walking as he thought what this card could hold.

"Okay... Ka-zaaa-mii," Nora made a face of How presumptions; You really are uptight, thought she quickly stopped her face-making as Yuuka walked around her with simply fixing her glasses and pegging her wish to escort her to her conscience. "You wish I would just leave you alone, but I do what I want, really~," Nora shrugge leaning her bat over a shoulder as she turned and followed Yuuka silently, for once being prudent.

Her boots where flat against the floor, her steps silet behind Yuuka's heels. Once they neared their dorms, the gardener looked up, and Nora grinned at her smugly. "I told you our dorms where close," The baseball player pointed to the opposite side, at a door where her room was,"Your's isn't too far, uh?"

----
"It is called sarcasm, Lucy," Maria laughed,"Yeah, my parents have got themselves some nice savings. But I don't like to ask much from them, what I have they give me on their free will, and I do try to work for it; even if they don't like how I am in the Kendo team and Newspaper. Unlady like activities and such~" She chuckled as they walked a little more, letting the two girls talk, even as Lucy pushed between her and rose. "The shop won't be to far from he-- Ah?"

"Youki-kun?" Maria looked over at the voice calling her. It was her fellow Kendo Teammate, Youki, though he was worrying about her and the girls as per usual."Oh comeon, Youki-kun, I am the Kendo Captain, I am perfectly capable of taking care of myself!" She pouted stubbornly at him crossing her arms, though she quickly relaxed as he asked about her companions,"This is Lucy and Rose we were just going to go eat at the noodle shop then heading of for what seems to be Karaoke. Y'know just showing these two around the city." Maria smirked,"And what are you doin here, Youki-kun?"