The end-of-period bell rang, and Taz packed away her things. She and Patriot both stood up from the table they’d been sharing, the bridge between them breaking.

Taz knew more about Football than she’d ever had before, and she had a sudden affection for the Alabama High School Athletic Association, and learning the game and its rules was wonderfully easy through the sharing of full on mental know-how from a guy who was basically born into the sport.

“Taz, I’ll see you tomorrow!” Patriot waved to her as he headed for the door, Taz still zipping up her bag.

“You too, Pat!” She waved back.

“If I meet any cute lesbians I’ll send ‘em your way!”

Taz felt her face turn cherry red, silently wished for a bullet through her head, and threw out a forced thumbs up. “THANKS!” She already knew a cute lesbian, but… what was the saying? There’s plenty of lesbians in the sea? Something like that.

It was… weird acknowledging it outloud. Thinking about Noelle made her butterfly fill with stomachs, but looking at Patriot – who, for all intents and purposes, was the very model of handsome manliness at their age – made her feel… less? Not unattraction, but it wasn’t even close to what Noelle did to her.

Patriot looked good; he didn’t make Taz feel good.

That sounded digestible in her head!

{Miss Cooper?} Came a gentle prod with the teacher’s voice, and Taz looked up to face the desk, where Mr. Moquat sat. She sent a feeling of acknowledgment his way as she pulled her backpack onto her back, Melodica swimming close by. {Come here, please.}

Taz did as ordered, approaching his desk curiously. {Is everything okay, sir?}

{Better than okay. Hold your hand out, please.} Taz did, and Mr. Moquat pulled up a small lunch box. From it, he took out a small browned pastry, smaller than a cookie, with blueberries poking out of it like frog eyes. He set it in her hand, making her blink curiously. {I wanted to thank you for taking the initiative and helping Patriot. I honestly don’t know where people get these ideas about telepathy…}

{His older brother, apparently.} Melodica thought dryly, then both girls radiated delight as Taz took a bite out of the treat.

{Oh, that’s good! What is it?}

{Blueberry bannock! My wife made some last night, and I hadn’t intended to share it, but smart decisions deserve small rewards.} Mr. Moquat smiled, flashing that golden tooth of his. {Now go on ahead to your next class. And, next time, warn me before you try to take on two assignments at once.}

{Hey, one of those was all me!} Melodica huffed.

Taz finished off the treat with a smile, savoring the taste of blueberries as she turned to exit the room, stopping mid step when she caught sight of someone else in the room.

Theresa was just starting to stand from the table she was at, holding a big carpet bag in both hands and looking… miserable.

Taz didn’t need telepathy to sense the girl’s discomfort, not from the way she slumped or shuffled towards the door, muttering under her breath again; more prayer? Maybe.

With a small gulp, Taz glanced at Melodica, got a roll of the girl’s eyes, and the mermaid poofed out of existence as Taz went out the door, taking a deep breath.

“Theresa?”

Theresa stopped, her shoulders tight, not turning around, but slowly she turned her head to stare back at Taz, her eyes anxious and her frown small and tight.

Taz walked a few steps closer, and coughed a little bit to clear her throat. “I wanted to say I’m sorry for trying to push you earlier. Just, y’know, it was our first assignment in this class and I know it probably wouldn’t matter late in the semester, but I really wanna start off strong! It’s a big deal for me to be here!”

The redhead slowly turned to face Taz, and all Taz could feel off of her was an almost palpable pain. The sheer discomfort in her was teeth grinding, even from an outsider’s perspective, and Taz was taken aback as the girl shivered.

“I’m… glad for you.” Theresa said softly. “It’s a nightmare for me.”

Taz blinked. “Why?”

Theresa just shook her head, and turned to slowly walk away, mumbling again.

Taz stared after her with a frown, Melodica reemerging from her head with a similar look on her face.

Basic Mimicry had been an utter blast.

Their professor met them in their classroom and took them right outside to the mimicry practice field. Mimicry was the discipline of purest imagination; while there was some technical science-related hoo-hah about the manipulation of light and sound waves, most psychics were capable of instinctually manipulating those things to some degree.

In a majority of cases, basic mimicry was imitating a handful of sounds they’d recently heard, or recreating a flat, still image in the air. A Haitian boy named Samuel was able to show the class portraits from memories of his home, and an especially talented young Ohioan girl named Cassie was able to replicate a hunting arctic fox, including its diving-pounce.

For sounds, Taz had volunteered, introducing the class to Melodica and getting quite an impressed look from the teacher. Taz enjoyed having a small audience, and getting to introduce the class to some Guns ‘n Roses on air guitar was a fun experience; she was sure Robbie would have been thrilled she’d picked his favorite band.

The praise she’d received had been a good feeling, but the real treat was Samuel coming up to stroke the air Taz had been playing guitar on, and looking on with toddler-like awe when Taz created a few guitar notes.

Mr. Mosarwa had offered to take Taz on for some private tutoring on Fridays after class, thinking she could easily take on some accelerated learning; Taz, of course, accepted.

Mimicry’s real-world application was fairly far reaching and relied on one’s personal creativity, but in terms of career options it opened up very little. Most mimic-focused psychics worked in entertainment: circuses, children’s shows, psionic special effects were a growing field in the indie movie scene, and Taz had heard rumors that the military was testing how effective mimicry could control a hostile zone, but she suspected that would only make her mother extra paranoid.

Still, sharpening her mind was why she was here, and she wanted to do it all!

Her music class had been fairly simplistic for their first day. Everyone told the teacher what instrument they played, and they mostly discussed how the upcoming semester would go; mostly a lot of music listening and education, but she was definitely curious about who could play and at what level.

Taz had the advantage in that she could show what she knew how to play, and was pleased to learn that psionic musicians weren’t common. There was another guitar player in her class, but most were transferring over from their school band classes, so a handful of trumpets, a few flutists, drum players, a single guy who could play tuba, two french horns, and six percussionists.

But, those aside, a few students could play on the rock drums and bass guitar, while Taz was the sole concert pianist among them, with one other girl experienced with electric keyboards.

Melodica already floated the idea of starting a band on day one, and the music teacher seemed amused by the prospect.

The fourth period end-of-class bell had rung, however, which meant the first year students were free. Teenagers had appetites like black holes, so most were heading to the cafeteria; a scant few were heading to the campus gym to get their daily exercise over with.

Taz, however, had accepted Dr. Dewitt’s offer to take up an extra elective. She was a little-bitty teensy-weensy bit tired from using her psychic powers all day, but the energy of PA was lively. She kinda liked the whole dorm-and-college life now that there were more people; it was still strange being on her own, but…

Well, she wasn’t fully on her own.

It was clear from the appearance of the classroom that tulpamancy, as an elective, didn’t get quite as much love as the core classes. Either that or tulpamancy was simply hard to make a classroom for.

It looked… plain. Level floor, desks with chairs, no burning incense or low, moody lighting; even the various posters were fairly plain and uncomplicated, though there was one depicting a picture of a man and a cigar-chomping cartoon chimp, both clutching their heads warning: ‘Don’t lose your mind!’

There was only one other person in the room, the moment Taz’s eyes laid upon a strange, alien figure, excitement filled her in two parts.

She could have been mistaken for an ordinary human at first, just in costume instead of day-to-day garb: she wore a pink kimono, sewn with white and orange throughout, wrapped in large, flowing gold ribbons around her waist and shoulders, which waved through the air like they were on ocean currents. Her black hair was almost as long as Taz’s, despite a good portion of it being done up in a large, curled do on the back of her scalp with those fancy golden chopsticks stuck through in an X-shape. Her face was pale, geisha white, with distinct, pink circles on her high cheekbones, pretty red lips, and black eyes beneath sharp black eyebrows.

She was so completely out of place that Taz and Melodica were both stunned silent, until she slowly turned her head to greet the two with a smile.

Taz was about to say something when Melodica suddenly shot ahead of her, coming to a stop in front of the ethereal Japanese woman. The mermaid’s tale wriggled below her, and her wonder was so great that Taz could feel it swelling in her mind.

“H-hi!” Melodica whimpered, staring at the gorgeous figure up and down, swimming a circle around her to examine her all over, the woman’s eyes tracing her every move. “You’re a tulpa, right? Right?!”

The woman’s gentle, noblewoman’s chuckle flashed Taz back into the dozen or so anime she’d delved into; it sounded so familiar that she wondered if it had been taken from a specific character, but she tried to remember who.

“I am indeed, little fish; konnichiwa, I am Kaguya-hime, the tulpa of Yume-sensei.” Kaguya tilted her head to the side with a smile, that curtain of ink-black hair following the motion fluidly. “Yume-sensei is finishing up some emails in her office and will be out momentarily.”

Melodica just nodded with bright-eyed eagerness. “That’s cool and all but oh my god another tulpa!” Taz winced when Melodica all but screamed in joy. Kaguya took a step back, her expression turning to surprise as Melodica swirled around her babbling in joy! “Oh my gawd you look so real but so cool and finally I get to meet somebody like me!”

“I’m happy to see you’re excited, little fish-chan.” Kaguya chuckled.

“Melodica! My name’s Melodica!” Melodica answered with an almost buzzing giggle. “Oh oh, you’re like the tulpa-teacher, right?!”

“That is correct, Mel-chan.” Kaguya tried to look dispassionate, but the comparatively tiny mermaid was filling the room with so much emotion and energy…

“Can you show me how to do something?!”

“That being…?”

Without a word, Melodica zipped over to Taz and made grabby emotions, too excited to even ask a question, but with an embarrassed smile, Taz pulled her tablet out of her backpack.

Melodica took the device over to Kaguya and held it up to her face. “How do I use electrokinesis?”

The excessively pretty tulpa opened her mouth and made a tiny noise, before freezing in place. Melodica blinked, holding the tablet a bit closer.

“Like… Taz?” Melodica looked back, and Taz approached with a small frown.

“Sorry Kaguya-hime, but our older sister showed us this electrokinesis trick where you can use touchscreens without your finger.” She wiggled her fingers. “Mel’s been trying to figure out how—”

The door in the back of the room opened up, and out stepped an Asian woman. She stared curiously at Taz and Melodica, and adjusted her glasses. “Konnichiwa, sorry I'm late. What’s this about a tulpa wanting to learn electrokinesis?”

“Yume-sensei.” Kaguya moved again, offering a polite bow to the professor.

Professor Yume was a short woman, but Taz was still shorter. She had black hair, not as entrancingly dark and impenetrable as Kaguya’s, and it was kept in a loose bun at the top of her head. Her rounded, square glasses sat on a stubby nose, with black eyes peering through them, her eyebrows hairier than her tulpa’s. Despite being a teacher, she was dressed surprisingly casually, wearing a simple black tank top over a sports bra, and jeans over a pair of loafers. If it weren’t for the lines on her face, Taz may have thought she was a student.

Then, the woman walked across the floor, drawing up so close their glasses almost clinked together, tempting Taz to lean back in fright. “Y-Yume-sensei?”

“Ya-huh?” She then turned her head, staring directly at a Melodica. “Mermaid and a short blonde girl. You must be Natasha Cooper and Melodica.” She stated more than asked, walking up to Melodica.

She wordlessly reached a hand up, threatening to put her palm through the mermaid’s face until Melodica reached up and pulled the teacher’s hand away by the wrist, her expression darkening.

“Christ! What is with everyone trying to shove their hands in my face?!” Melodica growled, flowing backwards while holding the tablet up defensively. “I’m pretty sure we can get you fired if you go around slapping students!”

Ms. Yume looked at Taz for a moment, studying the shorter blonde’s concerned face. The professor sized her up, until Taz gave a small swallow and gave her Tulpa a quiet look.

“She’s kinda right.” Taz mumbled. “She doesn’t like people trying to touch her. It’s kinda rude.”

“I see.” Yume crossed her arms thoughtfully and glanced up at Kaguya. Her tulpa didn’t so much as flinch as Yume walked straight through her, merely turning to follow her over to the desk against the wall. “I heard quite a bit of excited talk about the both of you young ladies. Dr. Dewitt and Mr. Burke both seemed quite interested in putting you in my care.”

“Uh…?” Taz and Melodica looked each other’s ways, then back at Ms. Yume.

“Dr. Dewitt offered us an extra elective to learn more about, like… me, I guess.” Melodica said.

“Are there gunna be other students?” Taz asked.

“Nope.” Ms. Yume sat on the edge of her desk, watching Taz with a contemplative look. “I teach tulpamancy on Mondays and Wednesdays only; Tuesdays and Thursdays I’m at the Dewitt hospital.”

Kaguya finally spoke up again with a kindly smile. “She’s a registered psychiatrist; I assist her. I’m told my kindly disposition and love of storytelling eases a great many people.”

“You are ridiculously cool.” Melodica swam over, settling in the air next to Kaguya, staring her over in awe. “Taz and I watch a bunch of anime and you’re just—you’re so much like—like is it cringe to say you’re like an anime?”

“I don’t think so.” Kaguya smiled.

“Oh, anime lovers, eh?” Yume asked, suddenly putting on a little grin. “I shouldn’t be surprised. What’s your favorite?”

“Oh, um.” Taz blushed a little. She didn’t know why the question was so embarrassing, but with a little grin, she answered: “My Hero Academia and Beast Stars!”

“Yeah?” She asked, picking up a notepad and writing the two names down. “You’re not the first person talking about ‘em, guess I should give ‘em a watch. My favorite will always be the classics: Sailor Moon and Trigun. Vash got me through a messy divorce.”

“I’ve never seen them.” Taz admitted with a shy smile.

“We tried to watch Sailor Moon Crystal but the lips were way too distracting.” Melodica tacked on, and Yume gave a short laugh.

“Sure, I can see that.”

“Melodica,” Kaguya stated, raising one of her dainty hands to run the empty air of Melodica’s cheek, though Yume raised an eyebrow as, after a few strokes, Melodica’s cheek began to deform with the ‘touch’, “may I guess that you were born from a love of The Little Mermaid?”

“Uh huh. I used to be Ariel and everything.” Melodica blushed the slightest bit.

“Many tulpa are born from a child’s love of a cartoon.” Kaguya smiled. “There’s no shame in your origin. Do you know the story of Kaguya, the Bamboo Princess?” She asked, glancing from Melodica to Taz, though both shook their heads. “When my partner,” Kaguya gestured to Yume, “was a baby in the nineteen-seventies, her parents adopted her from an orphanage in Japan, bringing her here.”

“They were very cultured people.” Yume mused, though a fond smile was on her face. “They wanted to raise me sorta Japanese; both picked up on Japanese, and my dad learned Japanese fairy tales to tell me at night, while my mother learned to make Japanese foods.”

“Kaguya the Bamboo Princess was adopted by a bamboo cutter and his wife, where they raised her as their own child. They thought it was a fitting story, as did Yume-sensei.”

“Heh, I used to believe I was Kaguya herself when I was just a wee tot. When I got older, I stopped believing that, but I still loved the story. I wanted to emulate this wise, beautiful woman, to be chased after by rich and noble men and have the power to turn them down, to return to my home in such a dramatic and tragic way, and I started asking myself: what would a wise woman like Kaguya do?”

“And over time, I would respond more and more clearly.” Kaguya smiled, giving her partner a grin. “Until I could appear to her in day dreams, or while she was sleeping. Then I started to step into reality when those weren’t enough. My dear Yume needed me more and more as she started suffering from depression in highschool.”

“You might know what it’s like?” Yume asked Taz gently. “To feel so alone you all but beg for God to send you somebody who understands you? Kaguya did that for me, and what I experienced is why I went into psychiatry.”

“Mental health people are trying to use psionics to help treat patients.” Taz said in understanding.

“Yes, which Kaguya helps with a lot.” Yume crossed her legs and leaned back with a sigh. “To this day, people still think tulpas are for kids, but I think much more clearly through Kaguya at times. People trust the face of an angel, surprise surprise. From what I have heard about you, however,” Yume fixed her eyes on Taz, “is that you do more than think in a different personality.”

“Mr. Burke thinks we’re two separate personalities running at the same time.” Melodica piped up with an eager nod.

“Which is an utter farce.” Yume chuffed, then relaxed. “Or, at least, it should be, but you throw an evolink into the mix and it seems like anything’s possible. That means I get the ever-interesting and frustrating job of teaching an evolink something that comes naturally to them.”

“You might be surprised to know how many evolinks have little knowledge in the very fields they excel in.” Kaguya tittered behind her fingers.

“Sorry?” Taz shrugged, looking dumbfounded for a moment.

“You should be, Ms. Cooper!” Yume chastised with a grin. “This would normally be my dinner time, but now I get to be on the forefront of researching a level of dividualism that was heretofore thought to be impossible.”

“Sorry!” Taz whimpered.

“Why won’t we be with other students?” Melodica asked.

Ms. Yume crossed her arms, and thought for a moment. “The tulpamancy I normally teach is about making tulpas. Some history, some of the technical terms, that kind of thing; making tulpas isn’t difficult once you understand the mindset you need, but most people won’t put in the effort to realize them, to create a separate personality.”

“That falls under dividualism, and while Yume-sensei and I do teach safe sub-personality development, that in itself is difficult. What you, Taz-chan, and Yume-sensei have done naturally can take another psychic a lifetime to learn to do safely.” Kaguya’s smile was serene as she swept over to Taz’s side, drawing the blonde’s long, wondrous stare. “I would temper your pride, however, unless you can do it again?”

Melodica swam over to Taz’s other side with a smile.“Nope, she’s dumb as hell and I’m right there with her!”

“Mel…” Taz groaned, only to get a pinch on her ear that made her groan turn into a growl.

“See, this is the interesting part.” Ms. Yume spoke up with a little smirk. “Kaguya-hime and I are always in sync. We don’t argue or bother one another without trying to put on a show; something tells me you,” she pointed at Melodica, “don’t need her permission to insult her.”

“Like she’d ever ask.” Taz groaned.

“Yeah, I don’t…” Melodica’s voice tapered out as she looked up at Kaguya, her expression falling. “Wait, so, you don’t argue with Yume-sensei?”

Kaguya delicately shook her head. “I play the part of an arguer when she is already at war with herself. I argue one side, in the hopes of helping her find the best answer.”

“But, wait,” Melodica squared herself up, floating up to Kaguya’s face, “you’re a split personality, right?”

“I am a sub-personality.” Kaguya answered gently. “Nobody can have two active personalities and minds at once; one becomes dominant, suppressing the other.”

“Having two personalities running at once would create conflict; you only have so much brain power, and most of it is dedicated to running one personality.” Yume stared down at Taz, smiling a bit. “That is why you are such a remarkable evolink. You are one brain, one person, one set of psychic powers, and yet…” She eyed Melodica closely.

Melodica, however, wasn’t paying attention to her. Melodica was looking at Kaguya, her expression notably hurt.

Taz gave her tulpa a worried glance. She didn’t often tap into Melodica’s emotions since it was generally as rude as reading another person’s mind without asking, but realizing that made her shiver a little; Ms. Yume had a point.

But, Taz felt an emptiness in Melodica, like all her excitement had drained away into numbness. She was staring at Kaguya with betrayal in her heart, and visibly flinched when Taz reached up to touch the girl’s hand.

Just as Melodica had learned to make hands, Taz could tap into that knowledge to accomplish the same so she could pull her tulpa close and at least try to bring her some comfort.

Taz almost jumped when she felt the mermaid’s cheek thump on her shoulder for the first time ever. That, accompanied by the sudden surge of loneliness within her…

“Is everything alright, Mel-chan?” Kaguya asked softly.

Melodica didn’t even look her way, and simply grunted. “I’m okay.” She lifted her head to look at Ms. Yume, forcing herself to focus. “So, what are we learning, then?”

“Let’s start with me learning from you.” Ms. Yume asked gently, giving Melodica a sympathetic look. “Tell me how you created Melodica from the very beginning, and we’ll go from there.”