[ARC 2: LANACCA STATE OF MIND]

It always perplexed Hirogane how some students came in for a scraped elbow, while some still resisted until a rib was sticking out. He figured that was down to more than parentage; that was a mentor's fault for not endearing proper pain management to their protege. Ryumi had been the latter type of mentor, and, fortunately, Marisa was neither.

But she still tittered worryingly in her seat, as did Aimee.

"Should be here by now." said Aimee. "Need to check on her in a few minutes if she's not."

"She'll be fine." said Hirogane. "Should know your girlfriend better than that. Been dating her for half a year, haven't you?"

"Uh, what?" said Aimee.

Hirogane paused, clearly having misjudged somewhere. The door opened, and Aimee rushed over to Mia limping inside. He waited for them to finish kissing, then called Mia over to an infirmary bed. "C'mon." He drew Pulse's tendril out. "Let's see what the damage is."

Mia nodded and laid down, letting Pulse touch her heart and heal her wounds.

Hirogane's brow furrowed. "…hm. Seems like - sheesh, quit squirming. Been here enough times to know not to do that."

Mia calmed herself. "What is it?"

He drew Pulse's tendril out. "Seems like it's finally full. Colony feels healthy, now."

"Good job, Mia-Mia." chimed Marisa.

"Y-Yeah." said Aimee. "I knew you could do it."

Aimee kissed Mia as she sat up, still a bit sore. "Er, do you want to see the fourth piece, or hear why he was after me first?"

"Piece." said Hirogane, as he couldn't remember if Ryumi had a fourth element.

"Reason." said Marisa.

"Piece." said Aimee.

"I can't deny my girlfriend." she smiled, then held her hand out to receive something. "Worldwide." Worldwide's blade appeared in her hand. "Er, I heard it activate on the way back. It works with my elements."

Aimee laughed relieved. "Phew. Uh, need to let Yuruko know before she blows herself up trying to make a new concoction."

"She *is* very in to chemistry." chimed Mia.

Aimee nodded, making a note to check on her well-being, too. She didn't think it was right that Yuruko be forced out of having a mentor; yet she didn't seem to mind being cooped up inside for the year.

With some difficulty, Mia relayed Magnus's reason, and watched it almost sand the edges off the others' impressions of his prior murderous spree, as time often did.

After a long pause, Aimee spoke first. "…that's, um… k-kinda sad."

"'The light has gone out from my life.'" said Hirogane. "Ryumi. That was his wife's name. She used to have to drag him in for healing. Always trying to impress her."

"You knew her?" said Mia.

Hirogane saw her realization and nodded. "I didn't think the staff would let it go if they knew it was her's. Should come up with a good story now for them."

Wiping her eyes a little, Mia nodded. "Thank you. For - helping cover for me."

"I just run the infirmary." He cleared his throat at Aimee. "And I also know someone who hasn't filled out their forms yet."

Aimee glanced to Marisa. "Uh, I got a few more reports about you."

"Wasn't me." said Marisa.

Aimee looked to Hirogane. "You heard her."

"You still have to fill it out." he said, going back to his desk.

Aimee pulled her eyes down at Mia, who snickered as they sat closer together. Marisa told Mia they would train her new sword when the semester restarted, congratulated her again, and left after Hirogane brought back forms for Aimee.

Once finished, the two stepped out of the infirmary, and Mia's face clenched as she saw Matoi approaching them from the other end of the hall.

"Swarm." she said. "May I speak with you in private?"

Aimee spoke first. "Anything you can say to her, you can say to me."

Clearly embarrassed, Matoi broke eye contact. "… I… apologize. For - what I said to you, and how I acted. If you watched the rest of the tournament, then you should know that my final opponent surrendered when I threatened to destroy the building. You didn't." She tried to only look at Mia. "I was wrong to say you didn't deserve your rank, and I apologize."

Mia nodded. "I accept your apology."

Matoi nodded, standing there for a few seconds. She checked her tablet, and, pretending it was for a call, nodded once before walking away. She would find someone else to imbue spite in, if only for her own motivation.

"...jeez." muttered Aimee. "Almost feel kinda bad for making her say that to both of us."

Mia grinned. "I liked it."

◆◆◆

It was not yet mid-morning on Christmas when Aimee knocked at the door to Mia's house, holding a few small, wrapped gifts. Mia opened the door, smiling in her Boudoir-Santa hat Marisa had dropped off.

"Merry Christmas." Aimee kissed her as she stepped inside, sitting together on the couch.

"Merry Christmas." Mia smiled as she reached over the side of the couch, handing Aimee a wrapped $100 gift card. "It, er, should be enough to pay you back. And you can't return it, either."

"Fiiine." laughed Aimee. "Um, you mentioned liking history books, so…" Aimee handed her the three gifts and Mia began unwrapping them. "One of them is a book about Urasaria, Russia's academy - can't even pronounce it - and Ningsing Academy. China's academy. Get a few reports on my desk about it sometimes. But, um, I guess the book puts them together since it's the only three countries where students are allowed to kill."

This sounded interesting, Mia thought. She set them to the side, then grinned as she placed her hands on Aimee's legs. "Now, can I find out what Rider does?"

Aimee laughed, Rider's tendrils forming at her wrists. "Go ahead. Take a close look."

Mia took a close look.

"Closer."

Tendrils tickled Mia's cheeks and she stifled a laugh. "Am I supposed to be seeing something?"

"You gotta get real close for it."

"Are you teasing me?" Mia drew closer, then gasped. "Are those … clocks?"

"Yeah. Rider's tendrils are, uh, made up of a bunch of really small clocks."

Mia pulled away and laughed. "Then, the ability is… don't tell me."

"Want a hint?"

"Absolutely not." grinned Mia. "But it must have something to do with time. And there's only, er, a few things that can be done with time, I suppose." She nodded to herself. "…a video… fast forward, stop, pause, rewind, or edit. Stop and pause would be the same, but it doesn't explain… Rewind should remove your wounds, er, entirely, not heal them quickly. It wouldn't let you teleport like you do. Editing… but fast forward…" Her fingers curled. "…you weren't striking me with your natural strength, were you?"

"I love this." laughed Aimee.

"Am I on the right track?"

"Half."

"Half?"

"Half."

"Half." muttered Mia. "…you would barely hit me, and it felt like you tore my skin off." She winced, remembering their training. "…fast forwarding shouldn't give you durability, either. Rewinding is the opposite of fast forwarding." She nodded. "Fast forwarding time for your speed, and rewinding for your durability."

"Still half. Opposite of fast forwarding isn't rewinding."

Mia cocked her head. "…Slow motion? Why would that…? Unless it could cause the wound to occur multiple times in a second."

"You sure?"

"You're saying it like I shouldn't be." Mia smirked. "Speeding up time, and slowing it. Final answer." Her brow furrowed. "I - does using Rider lower your…"

"My - huh?"

"If it does speed up time for you, then…"

"What are you - oh! Nonono no, no, it does speed up time, but - no, it's all cool, uh. I got that checked - and people I've trained with are all fine, too. Revenants can't do any harm to their hosts, remember? It doesn't affect that."

Mia sighed relieved. "Good."

"I - yeah, no no. No. It doesn't - no. I've gotten checked, uh - all perfectly normal for my host age. Believe me - if it affected that, I'd know. That'd be ... kinda depressing otherwise." Aimee wrapped her arms around Mia. "Plus, if it didn't, I could just go the other way to slow it and - ah fuck I just revealed it."

The two laughed. "I was correct, then? Speeding up and slowing time?"

"Yeah." grinned Aimee, Mia holding her closer. "Something about it seems to enhance it, too, like you said. If I hit someone while Rider's slowing time, kinda, uh - echoes. Like hitting them a dozen times. Someone hits me a few dozen times while Rider's speeding up time, it's like - barely one time, or whatever."

"And now, the secret of the Mad Dog is revealed." chimed Mia.

Aimee smiled, and the two laid together & cuddled while watching television. Eventually, Aimee moved her head a bit off of Mia's chest, and asked if she could tell her something personal.

Mia nodded. "What is it?"

"…you remember how, uh… I mentioned something in my first-year - Makoto being my protege, same-year… right?"

"Yes."

"Guess it was just - you mentioning Ryumi was his mentor that made me think about, uh, my old mentor. His name was Renee, and - I remember I couldn't tell if he was a woman or not, first time I saw him." Aimee laughed. "Revenant was named Andromeda. Could detach his limbs and stuff like that, throw these sorta, uh, black holes at people. Was a really pretty Revenant, actually. Looked like a galaxy."

"Makes sense."

"We weren't really close, but I remember he was pretty nice with, uh… helping me budget."

Mia nodded. Aimee had come from a wealthy family and spent half a semester at Urasaria refiguring out the prices for various items, like bananas.

"Few months in, he called me up to some bank robbery. Against some host they said was super fast, so, thought we'd do good at it. We showed up, and - fuck - Renee used to read Revenant reports a lot, and - he just immediately fucking told me to run - immediately, as soon as we - as soon as we got to the vault - and I just - I just instantly ran away. Guy was fucking huge. Magnus - Dreadnought size."

"…oh no." murmured Mia, and Aimee nodded.

"…yeah. You… you know what happened. They told me it was a guy who went by Eternity. Revenant could stop time, or best they could guess. Some other students had…" She sighed. "…they dealt with him non-lethally, and he pretended to go quietly until they let him go for one second, and he ended up getting away. Eventually, guy did get arrested, but… ended up breaking out before he got executed."

"Is this why you're always lethal?"

"Nah." Aimee shook her head. "Was already doing that. But - definitely helped. It wasn't - we weren't big friends, you know, so. But. Still feels like something I should remember."

Mia let her hands lower on Aimee's back as she kissed her forehead. "I'm sorry, Aimee. I-I don't really know what to say."

"It's okay. Just makes me think about how most mistakes don't have the biggest consequences for the person who makes them."

Mia looked over to the news, and Aimee nodded.

"But, um, yeah. Just… wanted to get that out."

"I'm glad you did."

Aimee leaned in to her. Her eyes turned up to Mia's chin. "…u-um. I-I love you."

Mia smiled. "I love you too."

In the afternoon, they visited with Mia's parents at the prison for former hosts, and she was pleased to find her parents got along with Aimee. She suspected they were questioning to themselves why a lesbian would date a masculine woman, but no matter.

Her father had asked about the hospital, and she had decided to leave out her duel with the dreadnought five days prior. After her & Aimee left, they bought a bottle of champagne to celebrate, though the taste made them throw it out before they came up to Aimee's mansion that evening.

"Wait." laughed Mia. "Er, while we're out here - I wanted to try something. Stay still."

Aimee stood still as a swarm of ice scarabs crawled under her boots -

- and a platform of ice brought her to a kiss from her girlfriend.

"I don't have to crouch to kiss you." chimed Mia, relevantly. She paused as Aimee blushed. "…actually." The ice melted and she caught Aimee before she fell. "I like you being shorter."

"M-Me too." Aimee laughed.

Mia set her down, keeping an arm around her waist. She watched as Aimee fumbled a little unlocking the door, and after going inside & locking it, pressed against Aimee and kissed her. Hearing her gasp, she worried she was pressuring her, but felt Aimee relax as she began kissing her neck.

"U-Um, want to sit down?"

Mia pressed her harder against the door.

◆◆◆

Over the winter break, she spent most of her days inside with Aimee, who, searching for something to call her, eventually came to 'Schultzy'. Mia was ambivalent towards the nickname, but she supposed she wasn't dating Aimee for her creativity. She had learned Rider's time dilation worked well in other areas, anyhow.

Her legs still a bit stiff, she was sitting on the couch reading an assigned textbook, when Marisa came out from her room on January 6th.

"They're expecting me to read through this by the first day?" muttered Mia, thumbing through it.

Marisa sat beside and grinned. "Yeah. It's like, nostalgic or whatever. I almost forgot where I left it."

"I'm glad you remembered." laughed Mia. It was a thousand-dollar book, published by her professor. She wondered what Matoi thought of *that* nepotism.

"People usually just like, pirate it, but, uh, they had a new edition come out last year, so..." Marisa shrugged. "Uh, I ended up losing rock paper scissors and having to buy it for everyone to copy, so."

"…why do they have a section on unlicensed tattoo artists?" said Mia, flipping the page.

"Uh, in case we deal with unlicensed tattoo artists. Again." winked Marisa, relevantly. "They just take the handbook cops have and update it with Revenants."

"The wonders of legal immunity."

"Um, also, we're not supposed to tell you, but there's an exam the first Friday."

"On this?"

"Nah. It's like - the second-years are gonna pretend to be supervillains, and you have to deal with me non-lethally. They built some new siderooms over winter break - plus, like, Rain-On-A-Wedding - Matoi - asked to use the one from the tournament for some reason."

"Poor Samuel." she muttered.

◆◆◆

On Friday, Mia had woken up to a message written in strands & dripping strawberry jam: 'CLUELESS LESBIAN - COME TO ROOM 289, IF YOU DARE…'

She arrived at the prepared sideroom, and the sight inside was no less absurd.

"Seriously?" said Mia, her laughing head shaking at Marisa on the opposite end, hanging upside-down from the ceiling. "Too soon."

"Come, Swarm!" said Marisa, in her best impression of an otherworldly tone. She wore five oversized black jackets, eyes peeking out from slits cut in to their chests, giving her the appearance of a headless woman. "Show that you - uh - possess power fit to best me!"

The headless woman's gazeless gaze left no more words to be shared. Mia's sword appeared in her hands as she rushed forward with forty feet separating the two; ahead, she saw Marisa's gloves flash out -

- and her blade was swift enough to catch the first dozen bullets, and as the next dozen came towards her -

- a whirl of gold went through the fabric projectiles, scarabs forming on her new blade as she slowed her forward pace.

"Ooo." grinned Marisa, gloves regenerating. "Gotta make them -really- hard, this time."

Mia shrugged. "I suppose I can handle -"

- the next bullet burst through Mia's chest & out her back; the pain stumbled her back as she blocked the next six, next volley slashing her thighs in a geyser of blood -

- but she was imbued with rightful royalty. An ice scarab flew to its inset in her sword, and a shield of ice formed as she rushed forward, next volley coming towards her again -

- but her frozen barrier blocked the hardened set just as easily, and as she drew within range of Marisa -

- the fashionista swung away to the back end of the room, landing on her feet with Boudoir's blade in hand; she rushed towards Mia, and their weapons clashed as her shield melted to her golden blade again. Boudoir's counter in her mind, Mia swept back, and as Marisa ran to pursue -

- a sheet of ice formed at her feet and tripped her -

- but a flick of Boudoir's strands launched her forward and over Mia again, scarabwoman spinning as her weapon met her's again. Inch by inch, the pressure of her strikes forced Mia further back, and as her sword smashed against Mia's -

- crystals of ice burst from Boudoir's blade and impaled Marisa's palm -

- but her sword softened to free her from the icy prison, still slashing ferociously despite her wounds, Boudoir starting to restitch the cuts.

"Afraid I'm gonna let you cut through it?" chimed Marisa -

" - you can't blame me for -"

" - Boudoir!"

- a dozen strands erupted out of her dress's back and shot to Mia's torso -

- and slammed her with the strength of a thousand against the wall; another dozen ripped her blade from her hands, throwing it to the opposite end, and as Boudoir's blade slashed Mia's arm -

- Mia's blade disappeared and reappeared in her hands, one swift block ensuring Marisa couldn't cut deeper. Another set of strands gripped Mia's ankles -

- and the full flurry pinned her to the wall like a rainbow mummy. Mia thrashing, her back smashed against the wall - but the lassos were taut and few could break the bonds.

"Much better. Swarm! Prove yourself worthy of - uh, Worldwide!"

"B-Boudoir is flammable when it's this soft -" winced Mia, and in the next instant -

- a scarab lit her ropes' fuses, and as the flame rushed down towards Marisa -

- it was just as suddenly snuffed.

"Uh, I can change Boudoir's consistency pretty fast, remember? So -"

- a geyser of water claimed Marisa's entire body -

- and the electricity charred her grip just in time for Mia's blade to be at her neck.

"Of course I know that." Mia grinned. "I needed to distract you for a second."

"… aw, man." murmured Marisa, shaking her head ruefully. "I was kinda hoping I'd win this time. But like, you're supposed to do it non-lethally -"

- two crystals of ice burst from the ground and encased Marisa's legs.

"If you'd like, I can extend them to your arms-"

"- t-t-t-this works!"

◆◆◆

The fashionista and protégé had dinner in their home with Aimee that night. Her nose empty from the smell of Aimee's shawarma, Mia asked her how the other pairs had done.

"Did you hear that huge crash earlier?" said Aimee & both nodded. "That was Matoi. Uh, I guess she ambushed her protege and ended up blowing his house up. Asked me the same thing as you two - her protege living with her."

"How horrific." laughed Mia.

"Nobody deserves that." muttered Marisa. "I dunno. Like, I know she apologized to you, and it's cool that she's super dedicated to training, but, I still don't like her."

Aimee's phone rang in her vest, and she took it quick.

"Mad Dog." She hid a smile. "Yeah - you're still in Lanacca, yeah? Did you get her removal surgery?"

A pause.

"You sure?"

A far longer pause. Her brow pinched.

"… Bigger than you thought, then. Yeah - I'll - yeah. Tomorrow morning, I'll head out. See you then. Wait in Lanacca, then." She tapped her phone. "Gonna have to head out for California, tomorrow night. About a five hour flight. Me and Makoto."

"Is everything alright?" said Mia.

"Yeah, just" Aimee's head shook. "Uh - actually, do you two want to come? Dmitri and Atori said they're having to fight dudes off of Lanara every week, and don't know if they can escort her to get her Revenant removed, and, uh." She paused. "I never told you any of this, did I?"

"Uh, no." laughed Marisa, sitting up.

Aimee nodded, and explained to them that over the winter break, scarfaced Atori & two-headed Dmitri had gone back to Lanacca in a radiationless section of California. While there, they had become involved in the investigation of a string of highschool students with Revenants falling in to comas, and eventually traced it back to a teenage girl named Lanara, whose Appraise allowed her to steal & transfer the Revenant of anyone who touched her saliva.

Her family under financial difficulty, she had found an anonymous buyer online for her Revenant's services, who, once she was no longer useful, had begun sending hosts against her. Atori & Dmitri & a professional hero had been protecting her for the past month, but with the nearest facility for removal surgery a few hours away, they had asked Aimee & Makoto to come out and see how many murders it took to empty this group out.

After some consideration, Mia & Marisa agreed to come along, and Aimee would ask Saya after.

"…uh. Is it alright if I ask Matoi along, too?" said Aimee, gesturing to Mia. "Six people?"

"Go ahead."

"I'll put her with Makoto."