Seia's Dreamwalking

[Belwin]

For one Yurizono Seia, encountering something new in her dream was quite a surprise. Again and again, all she had dreamt about was scenes from Kivotos's future, either in ruins or in the events that would doubtlessly bring about the academy city's end. So to open her eyes after feeling herself fall into the dream world and hear the chirping of birds, warming light rays breaking through a sky, a gentle and warm breath caressing her skin. All of which was a departure from the cold desolation of Kivotos as the future approaches slowly, unerringly.

She appeared to be on the edge of some forest halfway up a mountain. For a few minutes, all she did was stand and take in the atmosphere. After all, if it is just an illusion, then it is a welcome one, a reprieve, one she wasn't in a rush to break free of and return to visions of what mistakes Nagisa will make, of how Mika will thoughtlessly set off certain events. Just herself, in nature, making her wonder when the last time she had taken a walk through the park was.

Still, she couldn't just stand and wait forever. Especially as this pleasant dream seemed to be continuing for a while longer. So she began to walk, with only the idea that she's never been up high on a mountain before guiding her steps. Though after a few minutes, she, not for the first time, considered that she was always dressed in her Tea Party attire whenever she dreamed instead of the more comfortable pajamas she wore to bed. Certainly not having to wear heels while walking up a mountain would be much preferred.

As minutes became half an hour, Seia began to wonder about this dream that didn't seem to be coming to an end or showing her anything in particular. Perhaps it was, in a roundabout way. A sign that, mayhap despite everything that was to come for Kivotos, it would turn out fine in the end? Or maybe it was showing her that, without the students, with the city gone, nature would still be around to grow in its place? But how long in the future would that be? Her visions have always been within a specific frame of time, a space of a few years.

No, her prophetic dreams have been consistent, so perhaps instead this was somewhere else in Kivotos? Somewhere far away from the main districts that even the calamity doesn't reach them? As she pondered the meaning, she was pulled from her thoughts by a voice cutting through the sounds of nature.

"Halt! What's a fox like you doing on the mountain?" The voice called out.

She didn't turn to face the voice right away. Instead, glancing around for who the voice could be calling after. It was a nice walk through nature, but it seemed time for the prophetic part of her dreams to begin anew. Though as she looked around, there was no one else, so she finally turned to the voice. In front of her was a girl who looked to be in her third year, with white hair, wolf ears, and some kind of boxy hat with red poms on the end of two strings.

The wolf girl wasn't wearing the uniform of any school she knew, though the style reminded her of the Hyakouren district's. Most notable about the girl was that she didn't see any firearm on her; instead, she wielded a sword and shield. When she didn't respond to the wolf girl, she suddenly raised the blade at Seia herself causing the Tea Party member to widen her eyes.

"Hey! I'm talking to you! This is Tengu territory, no one is allowed up here without permission, even a fox like you." She called out.

"... Are you talking to me?" Seia asked. This was new, and not in the hopeful, relieving way that most of her dreams had been before. So far in all of her dreams, no one had noticed her presence; she doubted she was even tangible in any way that mattered in her dreams. After all, they were just that, dreams.

"What? 'Course I'm talking to you! Don't get cocky on me just because you got past our usual patrols!" The wolf girl, who seemed to be part of this place's peacekeeping force like Trinity's Justice Task Force, demanded, waving her sword around more. 'Was this school so poor as to not even be able to afford basic arms for their members?' Seia thought even as she shifted back away from the weapon.

"... Apologies, I appear to have gotten lost. Would you be willing to send a message to your student council for me?" Seia said, rather unsure of herself. What was the appropriate way to talk to people in your dreams? Still, it was a chance to directly get information from one of her dreams, rather than having to piece it all together through overheard conversation or peeked at documents.

"Student? Council? Did the academy have a thing like that?" The wolf-earred student muttered to herself before shaking her head. "Doesn't matter, the rules are plain as day, no one is allowed up here without permission, if you wanted to send a message, I'm sure one of the crows would love to hear you out, just not on our mountain," The wolf girl decided.

After a moment of deliberation, Seia simply nodded; she didn't have a reason to go up the mountain after all. "Understood, please escort me," She said with a small nod of her head.

"Obedient, huh? That's good, no need to get into a fight over something like this," The wolf-earred girl said with a nod, sounding kind of relieved to Seia's ears. She lowered her sword and waited for Seia to start walking down the mountain before following by her side and behind her, just enough that if she tried anything, the girl would have time to react one way or another. As they walked, Seia glanced up at the sky and realized something she could slap herself for not noticing before: the sky lacked a halo. Had it been that way the whole time? How hadn't she noticed something so obvious before?

She quickly turned to look at the wolf-earred student, and despite looking right at the girl who was now giving her a confused tilt of her head, she couldn't tell if the girl had a halo or not. It was both there and not there, gone some instants, there in others, rarely it also seemed as though the halo was taking in light instead of emitting it.

Before Seia could fully digest that piece of information, the sky became dark and full of stars. But that wasn't the most worrying thing she saw. Lines of red intersecting over each other all across the sky. At that same moment, Seia found herself no longer on the mountain, the other girl nowhere in sight. Instead, the night sky seemed to spread out in every direction, up, down, left, right. No matter where she looked, it was just the night sky and the intersecting red lines.

Seia tried to move, but in the landless expanse she had found herself in, it proved fruitless. She wasn't even sure if she was breathing as she found herself rather inelegantly flailing, trying to find some sort of purchase in the odd space. Then she saw a figure, in a white and black dress, and a nightcap that extended down towards her feet. Despite the groundless land she found herself in, she was walking on some invisible ground directly towards her. Even as she turned her head around, the figure never left her spot in her vision, only getting closer step by step.

Despite trying to say something, her voice wouldn't come. Panic set in as the figure came closer, a woman with blue, or maybe purple, hair. Eventually, the woman stopped when she was right in front of her, but she didn't say anything, not immediately. Instead, she simply wore an unnerving smile.

"Roll Cakes are quite tasty, I hear, not that I would know, I've only gotten to taste them from here. Maybe you should enjoy them while you can." She enigmatically spoke before poking Seia gently on the nose.

Then Seia found herself in her bed, staring up at the ceiling of her room. Memory of her dream fading like an illusion, with the only strong feeling remaining being a thought that it had been quite a while since she last just took a walk through nature.

-----

Once again, Seia found herself staring up at a Halo-less sky. As she blinked the haze of the transition from the waking world to the dream world, her memories of her last dream came flooding in. The mountain, the girl, she couldn't tell if she had a halo or not, but most importantly, how that dream came to an end. The strange dimension and the odd woman who talked about roll cakes to her.

With those memories back in place, Seia drew her favorite weapon, Radiant Light, and took in her surroundings. She wasn't on the mountain anymore, though there was one in the distance over the treeline. Idly, Seia wondered if it was the very same mountain or if she was somewhere completely different once again. She appeared to be in the midst of a forest this time, or more of a Hyakkiyako-style village nestled within a forest.

Although, upon further inspection, it appeared to be abandoned, as there wasn't a single person in sight, and most, if not all, of the buildings were in various states of disrepair. Though she wasn't alone, as there was a large number of cats lazing around the place. Seia began to walk through the village, looking for any indication of her location. If she could remember this dream like usual, then she would at least have somewhere to start looking while she was awake, as she felt confident in saying that this was somewhere in Hyakkiyako.

Nearly an hour went by, and aside from getting the chance to pet a couple of the cats who grew used to her presence, Seia hadn't found any easy evidence of where she was. Not none, there was no wiring or other signs of electricity in any of the buildings, for instance. But there wasn't anything like a sign over what appeared to once be a shop, or branding that she could memorize, let alone something as useful as the name of this abandoned village.

"Oh! Master was right! She was right here!" A cheerful voice called out. Immediately, Seia spun around and aimed her weapon at the voice. By the entrance was a cat-eared girl wearing red and white with a green mop cap on her head, she even had two tails. Though that wasn't what Seia's focus was drawn to, no, this girl had a halo, but it looked off. There was some kind of secondary halo in purple layered atop it. Looking at it for more than a second, it seemed to flicker in and out of existence much like the wolf-earred girl from her last dream.

"Who are you? Who is looking for me?" Seia asked, not lowering her weapon. In fact she only moved her finger onto the trigger as the girl walked closer without any worry for the drawn weapon aimed at her.

"Right! I'm Chen Yakumo!" The girl, Chen, announced with a cheerful tone. "Let's see, uh, I was supposed to confirm that you were here, and then… Oh right! Make sure the physicality of… something was manifested, guess we'll be having a duel then!" Chen went on to explain. Not that her words soothed Seia at all.

"...We can't just discuss this? I was able to move things around and pet the head of some of the cats around here," Seia tried to reason. It wasn't like she felt the same panic or sense of danger with that one woman, but it also wasn't like she made a habit of getting into shootouts like many students did.

Despite her words, Chen was starting to bounce on her heels, seemingly hyping herself up for the duel. Seia narrowed her eyes, waiting to see what kind of weapon the girl would draw, as she couldn't see one on her, which limited it to smaller arms that could be hidden or behind her back. "Nope! It's easier this way! Ah, but thanks for being nice to the cats!" Chen said.

Seia fired her weapon as clearly the chance to avoid the conflict was over. Despite the speed of her bullet, Chen had picked that same moment to shift to the side and start moving forward, her feet no longer touching the ground. Then, what Seia could only describe as waves of magical attacks were released from Chen's outstretched hand, going off in every which direction.

Stumbling back, Seia fired a few more times at the rapidly approaching girl, who took to the air, much to Seia's surprise. The girl at least seemed to be more content flying around and letting out more and more of the magical attacks out, it was something of a relief that she wasn't just firing them all off towards her like it was a machine gun or the like.

The attack soon closed in, and despite her best efforts to get out of their way, it only led to her stumbling into other shots and colliding with them. It was then that Seia found that while they stung a bit, it was far below getting shot. It reminded her of the rubber bullets that were used when students first began to learn to use firearms. Was it elementary or middle school? She wasn't quite sure.

What she did know was that given how little it hurt to be hit by Chen's attack, Seia felt a lot more confident and calm. She began to walk backward, taking more shots at the flying girl. As the waves of Chen's attacks continued and the more Seia adjusted herself to not take quite as many, she began to notice the pattern within them. Which, in turn, made avoiding the majority of the attacks easier.

Eventually, Seia managed to get herself close enough to one of the buildings for her to duck into to use as cover and reload Radiant Light. "Eh? Where'd you go? It's not fair to hide away during duels, you know!" Chen called out, apparently only now noticing Seia's retreat.

Seeing that Chen had stopped flying around, instead opting to stay floating in one place, Seia aimed and fired three times. Two of the shots went wide and missed, but the third hit Chen's shoulder, only to puncture through the skin and actually injure the girl. It took a moment for it all to register to Seia, the pained yelp was normal enough, it wasn't until she actually saw the blood that realization sunk in.

Images of her other dreams came to the forefront of her mind. She had seen violence at that level through them, but to be the one to do it herself? Her hands began to shake, especially as Chen quickly descended down to the ground and was whimpering and clutching her shoulder. 'She had a Halo!' Seia thought to herself.

But as she stared, she found herself unsure; one moment the halo was there, another it wasn't. "I-I should have realized when her attacks didn't hurt like proper bullets," Seia stuttered to herself.

"Indeed, you should have," A new voice spoke from behind her. Seia twisted around and was met with space splitting open, seemingly tied off on the ends by ribbons, moving towards her. Then in the next moment, she was somewhere else entirely. Not like how day turned to night with the red lines like her last dream.

"Who?" Seia asked, hands still trembling as she looked around. Only to find herself at the Tea Party's hall, sitting in her chair like it was one of their many tea parties. Mika and Nagisa's spots were as they always were, even if they were empty. The only thing different was that there was a fourth chair, and the figure sitting on it, staring at her with her mouth hidden behind a hand fan.

It was an Adult, Seia immediately noted, a full-grown woman with long blond hair tied at the ends by several red ribbons, A frilly white dress with a purple tabard. Like Chen before, she had a mop cap, though in white with a red ribbon instead. But above all was her halo, it was as present as any other student, not flickering like Chen and the wolf-earred girl. More than that, it seemed to only suck in light rather than emit any, and that more than anything sent a wave of unease over her.

"...!" Seia tried to speak, but no words came out.

"Worry not, I'll let you ask your questions soon enough. I didn't quite feel up to hearing your excuses," The woman said after clicking her fan shut, wearing a faint smile. "Besides, I'll have to be quick, even now, having only stepped across the boundary, I can feel my nature diminishing," The woman continued.

Seia took a deep breath but nodded and tried to calm herself down. She even felt for Radiant Light's weight but couldn't find it in its holster.

"Now, first things first. I forgive you. Chen's a strong girl, she'll heal within the hour from something like that. Next, we're in your dream, from what I could tell, a perfectly ordinary day in the future. Though the when is far too blurred for me to make out at a glance. Manners of the Dream World were never my strongest point," The woman explained. A few seconds passed and the woman playfully tapped her fan against her head, "Ah, right, you can speak now,".

"Who are you?" Seia simply asked.

"Yukari Yakumo, though I doubt by the time either of us wakes up, we'll remember that name. Soon it'll doubtlessly be as nameless as anything else," Yukari answered.

"Wh," "What's going on?" Yukari continued cutting off Seia's next question. "Well, it's simple from a certain point of view. You possess the ability to be awake, as it is within your dreams, do you not?" She asked.

"For as long as I can remember, I've had this ability to receive visions of the future through my dreams… For just as long, they've only shown the same outcomes, a future where everything falls to ruin," Seia explained.

Yukari, for her part, hums and opens her fan to hide her expression. "I see, perhaps you simply wanted to get away from such visions and found yourself running away. Never a good idea when the dream world is involved. I'll presume you've met the tapir during your last dream?" she asked.

Seia recalled the woman in the white and black dress. "I believe I have," She answered.

"That matches what my Shikigami noticed anyway. Well, regardless, when you entered Gensokyo through the dream world, I took notice. Though not as natural as your means, I, too, can enjoy the dream world while I slumber. It is because I am asleep that I was able to follow along as I sent you back to your dreams," Yukari explained. A few moments after she finished talking, an explosion rang out in the distance.

The dorm that Seia usually resided in exploded, letting Seia know what a dream this would have been. Even if it had been seen from both up close and afar many times now, she still felt the cold chill run down her back. At least there was something else to occupy her thoughts instead of her Halo being destroyed.

"My condolences, it must not be pleasant to have such a violent end," Yukari tried to comfort her. It did make Seia wonder how she knew that was what happened, if she had been spying on her dreams for longer than she seemed, or if it was just guessing by some expression she must have made.

"... I've become resigned to it. All I can do is watch as things play out," Seia let out a breath she hadn't realized she was holding.

"So you say, now I believe you've not been a very good host, here I've introduced myself and you haven't even told me your name, Yurizono Seia. Nor have you so much as offered tea," Yukari hummed out.

Seia leveled a flat look at the adult woman. "You say, though you appear to know me well enough. Certainly more than I appear to know about you," She commented.

For a brief moment, Yukari seemed to be looking for something in Seia's expression before sighing. "I know a lot of things, and equally don't know nearly enough," She noncommittally said. There were a few seconds of silence between the two of them as, in the background, the clamour of students being awoken from the explosion began. It was still a kind of new experience for this particular dream. Normally, Seia would have been woken up by the blast or would have seen another perspective to miss this hustle about.

"It appears we still have some time together, and my name still seems to be around. Have any topics you wish to discuss? Or are you that lacking as a host of the Tea Party?" Yukari commented in a manner that honestly reminded Seia of Nagisa at times. Though she did notice that there was another brief moment where Yukari seemed surprised at her own words.

"...What is Gensokyo?" Seia asked. Despite how they met and the strangeness her dreams have taken these past two nights, the two of them fell into a surprisingly easy conversation. The woman told her about a world where the supernatural could exist freely, away from a world that outgrew their superstitions. From there, the topic of paradise came up, and they began to discuss the topic. It was nice to have another person she could talk with, with everything regarding her dreams, it had been hard to talk to people she saw break apart with the fall of Kivotos.

Soon she felt herself waking up, and said her goodbyes to the girl she shared this strange dream with. Making tentative plans to meet up again, 'Where you could at least serve tea next time,' the girl said. Though as Seia began to wake up, she wondered if it'd be in that other world or her own. There was a vague promise that they'd meet properly at some point.

This time, as she woke up, most of her memories remained intact, though it left her wondering who that student was she had met? She would probably recognize her easily enough; she did, after all, have a halo fashioned like an eye and emitting a purple light. Now awake, Seia glanced at the clock and saw that it was morning, five minutes before her alarm would go off. Sitting up and reaching to shut off the alarm, Seia noticed that her gun was missing from its spot on her night table.

 

[Belwin]

Yurizono Seia did not dream of that phantasmal land that night. Nor did she the night after or the night after that. In its place were her usual dreams of the upcoming, unavoidable troubles and soon tragedies. Though for once, Seia found herself not content to simply idle away, watching what could not be avoided. The student she spoke to in her dreams had spoken about Gensokyo, described such a place as a paradise. If such a place were truly a paradise and she was able to go there once, then could she go again? If it were a paradise, why would she let herself worry about Kivotos when she could leave it?

Of course, she understood that paradise could be an exaggeration, that the student had her pride about the place. But if she learned it was not a paradise? Then nothing would have changed, and she would watch the world as she had before. While her dreams did not carry her back, there were things she could learn from Kivotos. To that end, she had made multiple visits to the grand library over the past three days. Not that she had much time to do so, as Tea Party meetings became longer and needed a new one every day.

Such as the one she was currently in the middle of. "That's terrible! What is the Justice Task Force doing?" Mika asked upon learning that the number of ransoms being demanded of them for some of their students being grabbed by delinquents had surged beyond the usual levels. She didn't quite jump up from her seat, but certainly if there was such a delinquent nearby Seia wouldn't envy their position.

"We had just finished discussing the raid on one of their outposts. Before that, the disappearances from the Industrial Club's storage facilities. Both of which have the Justice Task Force busy. Please try and keep up," Seia told her.

"Hey! I've been keeping up just fine! But isn't the students more important than some stupid guns and ammo?" Mika replied.

"We've only just received this information Mika," Nagisa spoke up, catching the Pink-haired member's attention. "Normally, most of these incidents are resolved through co-operation with Valkyrire, as the kidnapping incidents happen outside the Trinity district. However, it seems communication has been, well, absent of late," she continued.

"A bunch of delinquents are kidnapping our students. If they don't want to help, then we should just go rescue them ourselves! They're probably the same people who attacked us after all!" Mika reasoned. Which Seia had to admit was probably quite likely, if separated by a degree or two. There was a Crusader Tank amongst the delinquents in one of her dreams.

"It's not immediately possible for diplomatic reasons. We would be breaching so many laws and regulations. Not to mention the risk of reprisal by those same schools, or how the delinquents would hide deeper outside of sight under such a sweep. For now, we need to wait for, among other things, a response from the General Student Council," Nagisa explained.

"Eh? I thought you were talking with the President like every day for that silly treaty of yours," Mika shot back.

"...I'll admit that despite my best efforts, I have not been able to get in contact with her for a few days now. It's worrying as the Eden Treaty was supposed to have moved on to the next stage of discussion yesterday," Nagisa explained, straining her composure to admit.

On and on the meeting went with Seia not feeling obligated to do much more than the barest of participation. Nagisa being unable to contact the General Student Council's president, could only mean that the first domino had fallen. Which in turn meant she had anywhere from a day to a week until her room gets bombed and her halo is destroyed, or may as well be. Her involvement in any of her prophetic dreams ends with that moment, so she could have survived past that point, mangled and wholly unable to do anything more. She could admit to herself that she didn't have the strength or curiosity to watch the aftermath to confirm it, a faint hope despite knowing how fruitless it would be either way.

The next topic was about the alleged breakout of the Seven Prisoners from one of Valkyrie's holding facilities. Something Seia did at least push forward as true, the Fox of Calamity was in one of her dreams, and this rumor matched up too well to be anything but true. Allowing Nagisa and Mika to discuss amongst each other how Trinity was going to reinforce itself in the event one of them turned their eyes towards them.

Once the meeting was over and Seia had politely dismissed herself, she didn't make her way towards the Grand Library as she had on the previous days. After all, during those last couple days hey were only able to find a single mention so far regarding the world she had visited. In a truly ancient scrap of paper that Kozeki Ui refused to even let her touch, a discredited student thesis about a phantasmal world filled with 'true and real magic'. It fit close enough, and from what little other information the passage contained suggested she had to travel using esoteric means. It stuck out in a way that other fantastical worlds are described in different books and papers they looked through.

Though it was far too old to be of much use. Both Seia and Ui were, after all, assuming that the paper was from a student. Not blindly, it was clearly from an academic paper of some sort. It was just unfortunate that there wasn't enough to get an idea of where in Kivotos their school may have been. According to the accompanying paperwork, it had traded hands many times before being obtained by Trinity. Yumemi was also too common a name to try and search through records for. Not that either of them expected such a record to be preserved.

Instead, Seia made her way back to her dorm room. While the library had produced a piece of information, it wasn't enough to do anything close to actionable, which meant she would have to broaden her search and the topics she would look through. Kozuki Ui was handling it for her within the Grand Library, which left her to reach out to another school, hoping to get access to certain materials they may or may not have.

Seia entered the number and listened as the phone rang out. Once, twice, three times. A moment before it would have gone to voicemail, the call picked up. "Nyahaha, sorry about that, I so rarely get any actual calls on this phone. I had it muted and nearly missed it. I do hope you're not offended, Miss Yurizono Seia of Trinity's Tea Party?" Amachi Niya, president of Hyakkiyako Alliance Academy's Yin-Yang Club, responded in an easy-going tone.

- - - - -

"So, Sumireko, any leads on that gun you found?" Reimu Hakurei asked with a bored tone and expression as she rested her head on her hand. The whole thing was starting to feel like an incident, and it was never a good thing when she was getting these kinds of feelings without much actually happening. It was usually a sign that the incident would be a big one.

It started a couple of days ago, Chen had uncharacteristically come to her to complain about someone cheating and breaking the spellcard rules. Then Sumireko herself walked in, talking about a gun she found in Gensokyo. Normally, it would be nothing to concern herself with, but once Sumireko had actually shown her what they were, it turned out there were a few in Rinnosuke's shop, and no one knew what they were. But since what a gun could presumably do matched with what Chen explained with 'how they cheated', it all came together a bit too neatly to ignore.

It could mean two things, and both of them were a touch too important to ignore. They also sounded like they'd be a major pain in her rear. Either a youkai got their hands on the gun and was using it to break spellcard rules, or a human was endangering the balance of power between humans and youkai.

"Yep, let's see," Sumireko started as she pulled out that box she called a phone and began to read off it. "So I looked up a bunch of different guns, and it's probably a model called a Webley and Scott Mark one. But that's less important, can't you feel it? It's practically oozing occult!" Sumireko explained.

Reimu tilted her head. It was true, it was weird, but there was a spiritual presence to the gun. "Modern stuff like that doesn't hold faith. Otherwise, I'm pretty sure some of the kappa's weird toys would have come to life by now," Reimu dismissed. Still, she turned her gaze to the very weapon sitting on her table. It was clean and had a certain air of importance to it. The fact that it had any kind of spiritual feel to it meant it wouldn't be wholly made up if she were to enshrine it, would it?

"Well, this is the important part, I tried to take it back with me into the Outside world and it didn't!" Sumireko explained, slamming her hand onto the gun in question.

"So? There are a lot of things you can't bring back with you. Isn't the list of things you can rather small?" Reimu asked.

"Urgh, well, yeah, but that's a different thing! We're talking about a gun here! That's definitely not forgotten, or what was it you said! It's a modern weapon, it should definitely go to the modern world, shouldn't it?" Sumireko tried to get her point across.

"It's a youkai gun, then? How about I seal it and we'll call it done?" Reimu responded, having already drawn a few ofuda out and waggling them about.

"Doesn't that get us nowhere regarding who assaulted the nekomata and all that? Besides, this is something occult that's not from Gensokyo! Don't you have any sense of wonder?" Sumireko pulled her hand back, taking the gun off the table and placing it behind her as if to shield it from Reimu.

Reimu, for her part, just set down her ofuda and sighed, "Chen herself doesn't seem to mind, all of her complaints were just about cheating. She didn't seem to care and she wasn't even injured as far as I could tell when she came running,".

"Guess it's kind of weird now that you're bringing it up. Why did she come to you to complain? Like, I know you're the shrine maiden and all that, but doesn't she have like, a master or whatever to cry to?" Sumireko asked.

"The fox and her mistress are impossible to find at the best of times. I can see their own servant being unable to find them just as much as I can. It's not like it's unusual to go months without her showing her face," Reimu said as she stood up, spending a moment to adjust her skirt. "I guess I should give the place a once-over myself. If there is anything spiritual going on I should at least be able to pick up on it," She explained.

Sumireko, for her part, shot up to her feet after stowing the weapon away. "I'm coming too! I don't want you to find something amazing and then just dismiss it or seal it before I get to see it!" She explained. A couple of seconds later and they were flying off towards Mayohiga.

- - - - -

Sumireko was excited to play a supernatural detective as she flew out towards the abandoned village near Gensokyo's border. It was practically a murder mystery, only there wasn't actually a murder, and it was closer to a self-defense case if what she had heard second-hand from Reimu. Still, she had the smoking gun already and knew a fox youkai was the perpetrator. But why didn't she just use danmaku? Even her own gun was as simple as pulling the trigger with a speck of intent, and it fired off danmaku all on its own.

Maybe the youkai was somehow so weak she couldn't even use danmaku? No, the gun wouldn't have such a weird feeling to it without some power behind it. It wasn't wholly some magic gun either. She had already, quietly, and far away from anyone else, fired one of the few rounds in the gun, and it was normal. Regardless, she'd need more clues and information, and if it was an incident like Reimu probably thinks it is, well she'd get to solve one for a change, certainly seemed like fun.

As she thought that, the tops of buildings began to poke out from the forest, and Reimu changed her bearing as she moved towards them. Sumireko followed, getting closer to the village, and surprisingly, there was a trio standing right in the center with… with… All of a sudden, she found herself overwhelmed with a sense of exhaustion. Despite her best efforts, her eyes felt heavy. She tried to keep them open, to look at the three animal youkai and their halos.

Sumireko blinked her eyes awake, and she was no longer anywhere close to where she was before. It looked like she was in a scene from some post-apocalypse movie. It was a desert everywhere she looked, with ruined modern skyscrapers half buried in the sand. Though that was a far cry less surprising than the large set of halos dominating the sky.

 

[Belwin]

"This is definitely a new world, or at least America," Sumireko mumbled to herself as she stared at the aisles of the abandoned convenience store she stepped into to get away from the heat of this place she had found herself. While the place had been obviously picked clean of everything a long time ago, what wasn't taken were the tags on the shelves or some of the advertisements, the ones particularly standing out being all about guns, bullets, even grenades! All apparently sold in a store anyone could walk into.

"Is this the future then? Were those apocalypse movies right?" She continued to talk to herself as she happened across a box of bullets, somehow not looted like everything else. Unfortunately, they weren't a match for her liberator. She wasn't a thief or anything, but just getting the few rounds she had was close to the hardest thing she's ever done. Yes, she's putting that above some of the definitely, totally, life and death battles with Gensokyo's residents, or even coming to Gensokyo on that list.

Deciding that since everything else had already been looted, it wasn't like anyone would come looking for these bullets. So she snatched the box and carried it with her as she continued to walk around the store. Idly, she tried to lift them up with her psychic powers, but found it was quite a bit harder. Not impossible, mind you, she was, after all, a powerful Esper, she could probably still manage a good teleportation if she wanted.

Though wherever or whenever she was, it seemed to… Well, if she had to explain it, it was like there was a weight on her powers. Or maybe it was like she was using a proxy for it all? "Wait! Am I another doppelganger!? Did I develop astral projection now?!" She pinched herself and yelped at the pain of it.

"Wait, that's for dreaming," She mumbled to herself. "I'm also getting distracted and forgot the obvious!" She added as she pulled out the other gun she had. A quick check between the gun and the bullets made them a match. 'Well, why not refill the magazine?' She figured. Certainly was a better immediate use of her time than wandering the desert some more. She was still wondering if she should wait until night, or like dusk to to travel or just go through the heat after all.

With the gun reloaded, Sumireko couldn't help herself as she aimed at the checkout counter. "This is a stick-up! Hand over all your valuables, and no one gets hurt!" She exclaimed to the empty air, a goofy smile on her face. "That's it, I guess you'll learn that I'm serious!" She continued, adjusting her aim towards one of the adverts on the back wall and pulling the trigger.

She fired a few rounds off, not to the best of success, though. She wasn't much of a marksman after all. Most of the time, her bullets were following spellcard rules, and that was almost entirely imagination. Aside from the slight ringing in her ears, it felt good. Her liberator had to replace parts with basically every other shot if not reprinting it entirely. It felt so good she ended up firing off every round she had just loaded.

Of course, she had the self-control to stop herself at that, reloading the magazine and keeping the rest for later use. Well, if anyone asked, she was just making totally sure the bullets were still good. Despite her fun, the rest of the abandoned convenience store and some of the floors above it all proved to be fully desolate and abandoned. It was while she was looking out one of the holes that would have once held a window, looking up at the halos in the sky that she determined that yes, it must have been an alternate world of some sort.

"A new world, I was so entranced by Gensokyo that I forgot… The Hifuu club isn't just about researching Gensokyo, but all other worlds and all the occultism that there is!" She declared. Of course, getting back to Gensokyo and learning more about the gun were both high priorities. But how could she not want to explore this world and learn all she could?!

Her eyes were drawn downward as a van was driving through the mostly sand-covered roads, stopping at the building she was in. "Shi-" Sumireko called out as the idea that there would be survivors in this world was an obvious one. She ducked back a bit while keeping her eyes on the van.

The door opened up, and what looked like schoolgirls came out, all wearing motorcycle helmets. It was exactly the kind of thing she'd expect from a post-apocalypse, though she did find it kind of conflicting that they were wearing otherwise totally normal school uniforms. "Wait, are those halos!?" She couldn't help but mutter out after noticing it. The clash between their helmets and outfits was distracting enough for her to not immediately pick up on it.

Immediately, she covered her mouth and ducked down a touch more, especially as a couple of the girls turned their heads up. Now, normally, Sumireko would have nothing to fear; she beat the likes of Mokou in a danmaku duel once, and a couple of maybe angels were probably no problem. But angels, she was pretty sure, didn't wield rifles, and they certainly didn't aim them up at the window right away. But then again, Halo having girls was doing just that, so maybe she was wrong.

"Hey! We know someone's up there!" One of them yelled out to be heard on the floor she was on.

"Yeah! Come on out real nice like!" Another said. Sumireko had a decision to make. There were five of them and only one of her. Was she confident enough to try and dodge bullets? What if they were friendly? Like maybe they were a rescue squad or something? Nah, not a chance.

If there was anything she learned from her time in Gensokyo, it was that she couldn't let herself be held back by something like common sense. She was pretty sure there was a saying like 'refuge in audacity'. So Sumireko jumped out of the window, much to the surprise of the helmeted girls. But while Sumireko fell for a few seconds, that was entirely dramatic flair. As she neared the ground, she used her telekinesis to unfurl her cape to give it that 'hanging in the wind' look as she stopped her descent, floating down gently.

She spun the gun she had found around idly really hoping she didn't let it slip off her finger like she did a lot in practice. "Done and done, how can Sumireko Usami, President of the Hifuu Club, help you girls?" She confidently.

The girls, while bringing their weapons up and aiming them at her, were soon gasping at her actions, muttering amongst each other. Though one in red soon spoke up, "That's cool as hell! But you can tell us what you were doing in our territory? We thought we were being raided thanks to you!".

"Hifuu club? You heard of a club like that?" Another asked now that the red helmeted one spoke.

"I don't recognize the outfit, definitely not one of those punks from Abydos, though," Yet another said.

"I think that's a Trinity gun, maybe she's from Trinity," The third chimed in, pointing with her finger instead of her gun.

"Er, well, you see I woke up here a little while ago and I'm totally lost," Sumireko answered honestly as she let herself land with grace fitting an esper such as herself. "Wait, do you know something about this gun? I found it a little while ago," She asked as she picked up on the one helmeted girl who mentioned it. Without a care, she waltzed up to the group, waving the weapon around.

Surprisingly, none of them seemed to care about her approach or lackadaisical use of her weapon. In fact the girl she asked stepped forward and practically pushed her face towards the barrel. "It is, you can see a logo engraved on it right there, you stupid to not pick up on that?" She asked.

"Hey! You didn't answer my question!" The one in red suddenly chimed up by firing a couple of rounds over Sumireko's head.

"Geez! No need to start a fight over it! Besides, it's relevant. I was lost, obviously, so I ducked into here to get out of the sun, and I found a box of bullets that was unlooted, so I mean why wouldn't I try to make sure the gun, that is to say, this one was working by having some fun?" Sumireko explained. Gesturing to the gun in question.

"Oh, I get that, you get a new piece of kit and you just want to shoot something!" One of the other girls said.

"Wait, there was still some ammo left in there?! I mean it probably is the wrong type for my gun, but I could have pawned them off if I knew," Another complained.

"Damn, this looks customized, and not with cheap stuff either! You know, I bet you can sell it for a bunch to the Black Market!" The girl who recognized the logo spoke up.

Sumireko paused at that. A Black Market meant a civilized society, enough of one for there to be a need for illegal goods to be sold. But more than that, it was an interesting offer to consider. If it sold for a lot, it could fund some of her soon-to-be club activities in this new world. "How much are we talking?" She found herself asking.

"Well, definitely enough to buy a new weapon, and probably a sick helmet, and a whole crate of ammo. That's at the lowest, pawn shop price as well," The girl explained, knocking on her helmet to emphasize the helmet part.

"And on the high end?" Sumireko continued.

"Well, maybe enough to buy a tank? I mean this has to have belonged to someone important for it to be all customized as it was," The girl explained. There was a pause in realization rolling over the group for everyone except the helmeted girl herself.

Slowly, the four other girls raised their weapons towards Sumireko once again as they went from 'talking to the weirdo' to 'robbing the weirdo'. Sumireko, for her part, began to tap into her psychic abilities and levitated just a few centimeters off the ground, ready to defend herself.

"You said you found it? Do you know where, I mean, imagine how much we could all get with just a bit… of… working together?" The girl continued unaware, at least until the very end, as she looked around at the tense stand-off now going on. "Wait, we're doing this!?" She asked as she scrambled to bring her own weapon up, only now cluing in to what her fellow gang members were thinking.

In her haste, the helmeted girl discharged her weapon, particularly a shotgun, and Sumireko's eyes widened as she tried to move herself out of the way of the approaching pellets. But she wasn't fast enough, and suddenly she was flooded by a feeling of pain, doubling over. This was it, killed by some helmeted weirdos because of a misfire? Ah, her life was flashing before her eyes…

Actually, that didn't seem to hurt that much? Like it felt she had just taken a bunch of hardcore danmaku to the gut. Cautiously, she looked down at her clothes, and there wasn't even a rip or hole in them, much less on herself. "Oh, that's it, you guys are getting the strong stuff!" She yelled out. The other girls stopped chiding their member for messing up a perfectly good hold-up when they turned their attention back to Sumireko.

Pumping some force into her psychic abilities, Sumireko hit the group with the side of the building. A floor and a half worth of wall ripped directly out of the building she was just in. They were all sent flying a good few meters to the side and knocked to the ground. But Sumireko wasn't done with them yet, in fact, she felt fully in her rights because they shot her! With an honest to god's shotgun! The rubble created by ripping the wall out of the building lifted up in chunks before slamming down once again onto the helmeted girls' heads.

A good fifteen minutes later, Sumireko found herself riding in the van that the girls had driven up in. "So this place is called Abydos? I've certainly never heard of such a place," She said.

"Really? You've never heard of it? I mean the place is practically abandoned, but it's still a huge district," The helmeted girl who had shot her explained. After their little scuffle, they had agreed that they'd help her learn more about the Black Market, fill her in on whatever she wanted to know. In exchange, among some other things, she'd stop trying to hit them with buildings. Like a cut of the profit of selling the gun if she decided to go with that idea, or doing them a favor here and there in return.

They weren't bad people, certainly not worse than like half the youkai in Gensokyo. Besides, the idea of playing gangster for a bit felt fun. Not that she was going to wear such an unfashionable helmet. Besides, she was already learning a lot just through not shoving her foot in her mouth and saying anything that'd reveal she was from another world. Like the name of this country?, continent?, world?, being named Kivotos.

- - - - -

Seia found herself rather uncomfortable throughout the day. The signs were there, taken from her dreams. The student from Arius would be visiting her room tonight, she was certain. It distracted her, leaving her unable to handle any of her duties as a member of the Tea Party. Though Nagisa was all too willing to pick up the slack, especially as more bad news came in surrounding her doomed Eden Treaty.

It was one thing to know of a looming storm, to know an unavoidable, sad ending was coming. But it was another to be counting the hours and minutes until it would happen. She was afraid, she had no reason to deny it. Who would be happy knowing they were about to experience the pain of having a bomb set off right next to her? Once that, at best, according to her dream, would leave her hospitalized for weeks.

Still, time did not wait for anyone, and slowly the night came, and Seia sat in her bed, her gaze focused out the window and at the sky. She would be dreaming a lot soon, and Miya never delivered on her promise. The information she had promised would get delivered by the end of the day was already late by a couple of days. Considering her and Ui's luck with the scrap of information, she doubted it would hold anything to help her choose which of the two dreams she'd get.

The door to her room opened, "Yurizono Seia?" A voice only familiar to her from the dreams answered.

"I've been waiting for you, Arius Satellite School's Shirasu Azusa," She answered, barely spending a moment to glance at the student who was now carefully walking into her room.

"You… were?" She asked, confused.

"Yes. Because all of this already came to me in a dream. It's difficult to explain–precognitive. You can think of it like a 'prophetic dream'." Seia began to explain her ability to the visitor.

Turning to face the girl properly now, Seia continued, "I have them often, dreams that become reality. As well as ones that are indistinguishable from reality,".

"Does that mean you know what we're here to do now?" Azusa spoke, and for a moment, Seia was about to respond in the rehearsed way from her dreams. No reason to try and do anything different, those words spoken in her dreams being the same, she would have spoken anyway, she would like to think.

But then she noticed, Azusa's words were slightly different. 'We're' not 'I'm'. "Yes. You're here to destroy my halo." She eventually said. A small, tiny detail being slightly different or her misremembering it was nothing to get paranoid over. "Others joined you on this mission, but you're the only one who made it this far. You're quite talented, Azusa," She continued, her words acting as assurance for herself.

"Then why didn't you run away?" Azusa said, not at all looking resolute as she was when she first opened the door.

"If you must know… It's because it would have been meaningless. Everything is in vain. Just as the wise saying Arius is so fond of goes. Struggling is meaningless to someone like me who can see the future. Death isn't common in Kivotos, but it's not entirely devoid of it either. Invisible, yet clearly with us. There's no doubt that each of us are living things." Seia replied.

Azusa didn't reply yet, so she continued, "To destroy one's halo is the kill them. Meaning, someone out there wants me dead. And here you are. You made it all the way here undetected. You, Shirasu Azusa, a student from Arius Satellite School… Have you ever destroyed a halo before?"

Azusa looked to the side. She was about to say something when another set of footsteps began to approach them. Seia wondered if it was another thing she had missed, but Azusa looked surprised and quickly turned to face the approaching sound. Most notably, she didn't immediately raise her weapon, which felt uncharacteristic of the girl, especially in such a situation.

"This is quite the conversation I've come up to," Another familiar voice called out, and soon, from the darkness of her doorframe, a strikingly familiar halo appeared. Patterned after an eye and seemed to be devoid of all but a hint of purple color and sucking in light. Long blonde hair tied at the end with ribbons. This was the student from her dreams of that illusory world, Yukari Yakumo.

Though there was a notable difference between then and now, namely, rather than the white ruffled dress and tabard, she was wearing the uniform of the General Student Council secretaries. Along with a customized rifle of a make Seia couldn't immediately place, though it did remind her of the gun of Hasumi of the Justice Task Force.

"What are you doing here?" Seia couldn't help but ask, confusion clear on her face. "Why are you dressed-?" she tried to continue, but was cut off.

"It's rather simple. I was wondering why the explosion I expected was delayed. Shirasu has performed exactly as expected. Figuring it was a dialogue, I decided to invite myself over. Ah, but I guess tea would have to wait once again. I'm not about to force you to serve us tea in this situation," Yukari explained.

Azusa, for her part, fidgeted under the brief glance that Yukari had leveled towards her. But didn't respond. None of what was currently happening was ever in her dream, but her dreams had been absolute until now. The only explanation that came to mind was that Yukari was from that other world. Something never meant to interact with this one, and thus her dreams never could have foreseen her involvement.

"I don't believe Azusa came here to kill me," Seia eventually explained the delay. Even as her mind whirled to try and piece together what was going on. There had never been a student like her among the General Student Council. Sure, she didn't have information on every secretary, but that halo, regardless of the deathly feeling it gave off, she would have recognized it from the various other, more indistinct ones of the students. Had she managed to infiltrate the place in the short time frame from coming to Kivotos?

Azusa stared down at the floor. Yukari hummed, glancing over the girl once again, "Yes, I can see it. Take this as a lesson, Seia, don't take over plots that aren't yours. There are a great many variables you are unable to clearly see,". She pulled out a fan and opened it to cover her mouth before continuing, "But I think this works out in both of our favor, I had come to prevent Shirasu from killing you,".

"You told me to clear my head of doubts!" Azusa snapped out of her thoughts and accused. She raised her gun at Yukari's back as she had stepped forward at some point in her conversation. "You were pushing me more than Squad did!" She added.

Seia was working with wholly unknown information for the first time in a long while, but she wasn't an idiot or blind without the dreams. She could see what Yukari had planned. She had seen through Seia's own dream, most likely the plot on her life, somehow gotten her foot into Arius and aimed to push things forward, all to present herself as a savior in this moment. To come and stop the assassin, she practically set herself.

"What were you hoping to plan by gaining my favor in such a way Yukari?" Seia asked now more than ever, missing the weight of her favored weapon in her hand.

Yukari, for her part, was unbothered by Azusa's weapon or Seia's accusation. "Why, I was hoping to learn more about the world you visited in your dreams. This world I can no longer remember,". She casually turned to look behind her at Azusa. "I can also see how I've gotten hasty, after all, there was no guarantee that this wouldn't still end as your dream does," She mentioned.

Azusa must have noticed something as she began to fire at Yukari. But the space between her gun and Yukari opened up, revealing a void filled with eyes, the ends of this split tied off with ribbons. The bullets were flying through and disappearing without reaching Yukari. Azusa's eyes widened, but she quickly moved to the side to get around the gap in space.

The gap moved just as much as Azusa did, ensuring nothing would reach Yukari. "Clean up will be more taxing than I would like, the boundary between fact and fiction is quite hard to grasp at the best of times. Nonetheless, Seia, I need you to dream, dream of that illusory world once again," Yukari explained. Another of those gaps opened, and she pulled out a bomb of some sort. She pushed a button, causing it to beep, and tossed it carelessly towards Seia.

Seia snapped out of her stupor at the clear threat against her and glanced around for a place to go, a spare weapon she may have forgotten about. Azusa, as well, seemed shocked to see the bomb, checking somewhere that may have been where the bomb was a moment ago. She hesitated for only a moment before charging towards Seia, tackling her and going pushing herself and Seia towards the window of her room. Then her world became white as the bomb went off.