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Mana~



Mana calmed slightly, but only because Ishira was there. If he hadn't been, she would have let loose completely. She was in absolutely no mood for that right now. The half-ling put her weapon back in its sheath and leaned over, whispering to Ishira, "I think we need to watch our Reyvateils closely around this perv."

"Well, if you were to find the Mechanic. I think he's all the way in Daila, though. It's a little ways off from here."

"Sure... yeah... I'll get right on that." Mana looked like she was going to cry or collapse. Either or. With a look to Ishira, she nodded. "Looks like I'm off... again. I'll try to be back in a day. Hate to ask, but think you could watch over my sis for me? She'll take care of Gannon and Hikari, but sometimes she overdoes it. Oh, and protect them both from you-know-who..." She motioned at the guy standing in front of them.

"That's not nice," he whined. "Where's the love?"

She ignored him. "I only hope Hikari can last long enough. If her mind completely shuts down, wouldn't that be the same thing as being brain dead?" Mana gulped. She didn't like to think of that. "Well... I'm off." She stepped out the door and walked a little ways, pausing to run into the weapon's shop. After buying an upgrade or two, she was on her way and out of town.

[There. That takes care of Mana so you guys aren't waiting on her. She went to go get the mechanic. Maybe you can have him return to town now, so basically she went off on a wild goose chase? LOL that'd be funny.]

Ishira


Ishira sighed heavily, "We should have a guy on watch when others are diving," he agreed.

"I can't believe you don't trust me..." the dive shop keeper cried dramatically into his sleeve.

Ishira wanted to go with Mana but she was way more experienced with climbing and scaling the tower, "You got one day!" he called after her, "If you're not back by then we're coming to search for you!"

"So frigid, do you think she's tsundere?" the man was suddenly was behind Ishira looking over his shoulder with hopeful eyes.

A vein formed on Ishira's forehead and he karate chopped the man's head for lack of personal space, "Trust me, she's all tsun tsun no dere dere," he growled, "Now if you could kindly get back on topic and tell me what I can do to help out around here."

"Ow Ow Ow Ow," the man hunched over grabbing his head, "No love!" he wailed. Then he quickly stood as if nothing happened and walked over to the machines, "I've been fiddling with these things for days," he kicked one gently and it kicked on, "Oh! See what a little tough love can accomplish?" He grabbed his chin and a sparkle came from his grin.

Ishira sauntered up to a non-functioning machine beside the one the man just activated, "One is useless, we need at least two," he said flatly as he opened a side panel to a dusty control board, "Geez! Ever think of cleaning these things?" he grumbled and blew away most of the dust. A reset switch was now visible and he flipped it. The machine lazily powered up, "See what knowledge of love can do? You need to read into what it needs." he said proudly stood and clapped the dust off of his hands.

"Teach me your ways!" the dive shop keeper flung up his hands up dramatically and fell upon Ishira's leg.

"Not likely," he kicked the man off, "I'm not taking on students," he growled and paused with a thought. A mischievous look in his eyes formed, "I should warn you," he crouched beside the man on the floor and whispered behind his hand, "What I mean to say is that I can't afford to take on students right now. The Reyvateils I travel with are heartless she devils whose main focus is to tear down a man's self-esteem," he darted his eyes side to side for a dramatic flair before leaning in with a grim expression, "They've left countless men in mental purgatory. Rumor has it the black haired one shattered a man's heart so profoundly he won't even speak anymore. And don't get me started on the blonde one," he shuddered, "If she doesn't kill you for your advances, believe me, her vanguard will. Slooowwwly," Ishira signed limbs being pulled off one by one.

The poor man's eyes were horrified, "R-Really?"

Ishira nodded silently then stood up looking around, "I don't plan to incur their wrath upon you so what do you say we try to clean as many of these machines as possible? Hand me some rags," he held out his hand.

"M-m-me?!" the man scrambled back on his arms then wobbly onto his feet searching frantically for rags, "here," he said pressing a whole wad of them into Ishira's hand.

"Thanks, I'm going to start on the far side," he coolly walked over to the farthest machine then leaned back against the center column out of sight. A laughter rose from his gut and he bit a finger to suppress the noise while holding his stomach. Once he had calmed down he dove into each machine one by one, cleaning every possible wire, flipping every possible switch, he even cleaned up the floors and walls. Everything was tidy, but in the end only the first two machines were still functioning, "Whew!" he wiped the sweat from his brow.

"Wow! It looks brand new in here," the man exclaimed, "Lots of girls are sure to come by now," he grinned looking lustful.

Ishira sighed, grateful that the man had kept quiet thus far. He glanced out of the window to notice the sun was starting to set, "How late are you open?"

"All night," he responded sullenly, "I tell you, I'd be married off if it wasn't for this job," he sat at his desk and leaned his head in his hand.

"Well then, I might be back soon to give it a test run," he said as he left the shop.

Ishira


Ishira stopped at a small food stand on the way back to the inn to grab some BBQ and dokkoi sets to share with Rhaplanca. The inn was a relatively calm atmosphere at sunset, no one was in the lobby and the crimson and vermilion colors from the sun played on the walls and floor. Holding the 'to go' bag in one hand, he unlocked Rhaplanca's room with the other to find her fixing her hair. A small growl sounded from her stomach, "Looks like I'm just in time," he grinned and held up dinner, "I got some headway with two dive capsules. I thought maybe we'd try them out after dinner," he pulled out the packaged servings and set them in a spread on the bed, "To be honest, I wasn't sure what you'd like so I picked my favorites," he laughed with a hint of embarrassment and waited for her to dig in before indulging himself.

Ishira


"Well, yeah," he said gulping down another piece of meat, "I figured we'd give the machines a test before subjecting Hikari's fragile state to an unreliable dive pod," he explained. His expression became worried when he thought that Rhaplanca might not want to dive anymore, "That is, it's fine if you don't want to," he frowned and began to clear the bed of trash.

Ishira


Ishira was relieved by Rhaplanca's approval and waited patiently for her to change. He fed some scraps to Yue in an attempt to bribe and old friendship to rekindle, but as always once Rhaplanca was in the room Yue flew to her. Ishira sighed with a defeated smile then quickly stood, "Well then, let's head out," he said exuberantly as he led Rhaplanca back to the dive shop. His hand froze at the door and he turned on his heels at the memory of the dive shop keeper. He looked serious into Rhaplanca's eyes for the first time, "Hey, listen," he glanced side to side, "You're an intimidating Reyvateil that doesn't like men," he whispered and then opened the door before he even explained what that meant to Rhaplanca, "I'm back," he announced rather excitedly, rather mischievously, "Oh, this is my Reyvateil companion I was telling you about," he tried to look nonchalant despite the anxious awaiting of the man's reaction.

The man looked up from his desk. His eyes widened in horror at recognizing the "black haired one", "Oh, oh, OH!" he gasped and shot up to his feet, "Welcome, miss," he practically ran to a dive machine to open it for her, "Does this one suit your fancy, my dea- er, miss?" sweat was dripping from the young Teru's forehead.

Ishira


Ishira shrugged with a nervous grin. He'd explain it later. With a sigh, he entered the dive pod and waited for unconsciousness to take over.




Upper Cosmosphere Music ~Rhaplanca~

A view of a normal town came into view. Oddly the streets were empty, "Is that a school over there? Oh my," Ishira sighed.

"CONGRATS! I really didn't think you'd have the brains to make it this far!" Soichii falsely praised with a taunting smile.

"Just what do you mean by that?" Ishira snapped back.

"Just what I said, dum dum," Soichii glared.

"Can't you be more.. supportive?" Ishira groaned.

"Hm? What for?" Soichii asked apathetically and disappeared.

"Hey, wait! Ugh!" Ishira groaned, "Looks like I'm on my own," he mumbled as he started down the path from the Paradigm Altar. On the outskirts of town he noticed an odd cafe, "Maid Cafe?" he tried the door but it was locked. Ishira let out a heavy sigh, "I feel lost," he kept on and stopped at what looked like a high school dormitory. Suddenly someone ran into him and knocked him to the ground.

"Whoa!" Rhaplanca hurriedly picked up her school supplies, "Just great, I try to get there early and I bump into you," she huffed, "Ishira, you really are a bad student. You're not even in your uniform."

"H-Hey, you ran into me, remember?" he corrected, "Besides I don't have a uniform."

Rhaplanca made a disgusted sound, "What are you talking about? You're hopeless, follow me," Rhaplanca dragged Ishira into the dorms and shoved him into a room, "Get changed, slacker," she as she shut the door and waited in the hallway. Sure enough a uniform was waiting on the bed for Ishira.

Ishira was leery, but he felt it best to play along and change clothes."I feel ridiculous, I don't like these colors," he complained about the pink and teal boy's uniform as he stepped into the hall.

Rhaplanca's lips pursed as she glared at him, "Take it up with the school council. Although, as class president and the one who selected the colors I won't be backing you up."

"Uh, no thanks, I'll just deal with it," he sighed. Geez... this version of Rhaplanca is mean.

Her expression lightened, "Good to here. Now let's get to class," she said as she proceeded to drag him all the way to the school, "You're actually early today, how does it feel?" she chimed, "Say, you haven't eaten breakfast yet have you? C'mon I'll share mine with you in the track field," she offered cheerfully.

"Oh-Okay," Ishira decided to just go with the flow, but this wasn't at all what school was like for him. Was it even this way for Rhaplanca? They sat on the grass beside the track and enjoyed a packed breakfast Rhaplanca made. Ishira was surprised to be able taste in the cosmosphere, "It's good," he complimented.

"Really? Thank you, I work on it very early this morning in hopes to share it with you," she smiled.


"I'm surprised that little miss unsocial has time to spend with a boy. Shouldn't you be studying, Rhaplanca? After all, the school's prestigious grade average is depending on you right? It must be so rough being a prodigy," A form of Hikari said sarcastically.

What is Hikari doing here? Or is this just a representation of her in Rhaplanca's mind?

"Even I can take a break, school's not even started," Rhaplanca replied softly.

"Hmph, and here I thought you were admirable. Turns out your just another boy crazy flunky," Hikari said caustically and walked away.

"What's up with her?" Ishira asked confused.

"That's Hikari, she's in the honor society, but she ranks lower because of her less prostigious bloodline," Rhaplanca frowned, "I don't blame her for her animosity, one's intelligence shouldn't be based on their blood." A school bell sounded over the field and schoolyard, "Oh! It's time for class!" Rhaplanca hurriedly gathered her supplies and dash off, leaving Ishira behind.

"H-hey wait," Ishira called after her as he rushed to class behind Rhaplanca. Inside the classroom everyone is seated. The teacher shows up, in a rather weird outfit, "What kind of teacher is she?" Ishira gawked.

"Shh!" Rhaplanca put a finger to her lips, "The professor doesn't tolerate speaking out of turn," she warned.

"Rhaplanca," the professor called, "Demonstrate your outstanding intelligence for the rest of the class. Tell me, which waves according to wave science are the ones that make up matter, and therefore make up the world?"

"Here we go with miss prodigy, can she be any more of a social outcast? How lonely can one person get?" Hikari whispered with a sneer. A chuckle of agreement sounded through the classroom with no reprimand from the professor.

"That's easy..." Rhaplanca flinched from the quiet laughter mocking her.

What's with her? The real Rhaplanca is nothing like this... Ishira scribbled on a piece of paper and tapped on Rhaplanca's back with a pencil to get her to turn around. Once she did she was shown the note: IGNORE THEM. YOU GOT THIS! along with Ishira's smile.

Rhaplanca smiled and shut out the laughter. She confidently turned back to the professor and replied, "Static D-Waves."

"Oh my," Hikari said as she noticed Ishira show Rhaplanca a paper, "to think miss prodigy was a cheater all along, tsk tsk."

Representation or not, this Hikari was getting on Ishira's nerve, "Here," he said handing the note to Hikari to show her Rhaplanca wasn't cheating, "Everyone deserves someone to cheer them on, never thought that it would spur jealousy," Ishira said coolly.

"Thank you," Rhaplanca mouthed to Ishira. Suddenly the bell rang.

"That's all for today," the professor said as she left. The rest of the students followed leaving Rhaplanca and Ishira alone.

That was short... Ishira thought.

"Thanks for believing in me," she smiled warmly, "I take pride in being the professor's prodigy but sometimes I wish I could be a normal girl and make friends," she said sadly as she stood, "Well, I have to work today so I better get going. Stop by later, it's the Maid Cafe," and with that Rhaplanca left as well.

"No paradigm shift? I wonder what I have to do? Maybe I should look for Soichii..." Ishira sighed and backtracked all the way to the paradigm altar to find Soichii sleeping, "Hey, Soichii," he called out.


[getting too long.. continue to next post :3]

Miko~


Suddenly, Miko was startled awake by movement. She glanced around wondering what could have moved to wake her up. She stared down at Hikari hopefully but that hope was dashed when a breeze blew the shutters of the window open. "Oh, of course it couldn't be her. She's in a coma, after all. Gannon has better chances of waking up." She said deflatedly. Speaking of Gannon... Miko stood and opened the door, peering outside of the room. The doctor wasn't in sight. She stepped out, looking around for him. He wasn't in there with Gannon anymore, either. She sighed. Miko wanted to check up on Gannon, but she didn't know where the doctor was to ask if she could. Finally, she shrugged and entered into Gannon's room once again.

Miko~


"What the-?" Miko instantly felt a chill. "The doctor doesn't have to keep this room like a freezer... Wait a minute." She stared at Gannon for a minute. "It's him. He's causing it. Looks like he's starting to recover... Great. Does he have to freeze the place up?" She grumbled. "I guess I'm going to have to be damage control." She closed her eyes and called upon her own Teru magic, fighting his power of ice with her own burning inferno. She wasn't sure for how long she would have to keep it up for, but Miko knew that she could keep going for quite a long time. As long as she could keep the temperature in the examination room in check, that was all that mattered.