Eventually my stop comes up and I walk home, saying good-bye to Trace and Blue as I get off the bus. I just walk, hearing the sounds of playing children, barking dogs and other ambient sounds of the neighborhood.

I live away from all that. I live in a small house on a hill, by myself, closer to the woods nearby. Sometimes I get lonely, as it's just me and Flèche here, but sometimes Trace comes to visit, so it's pretty nice.

Now, what to do with the rest of my day?

I wasn't given any homework to do... it is only the second day of school, after all. Maybe it'd be a good idea to just relax for now. I turn on the TV. The news is on. They're talking about a crater and some strange lights seen in town. Where is that? I think Blue lives around there. They say it happened last night, so he must be okay.

Eh... other stuff... I don't care much for the news. I know, it's important, but nothing else is really happening.

Click. Click. Click.

There's nothing on... I turn the TV off. Might as well work on getting dinner done.

Let's see... I had spaghetti yesterday, and that was okay, but I think I'll try something else tonight... I think some beef and vegetable soup will be good. It's only 3:45 pm, so I can take my time. Actually, since I'm home, I might as well take these contacts out, and get all this make-up off me...

...

I look into the mirror. I look at the pale, white haired, red eyed girl, who stares back at me...

“Cleo, is something wrong?” Flèche “says”, into my mind.

“It's nothing.” A lie. She can tell.

“Oh... forget about it. It's alright. We don't have to talk about it if you don't want to...”

“You can just look into my thoughts, if you want.”

Oops. She doesn't like it when I say that...

“I already talked to you about this. There's a reason people have secrets. Some things are better left unknown. You've got secrets that you don't wanna talk about, and so do I. It's fine.”

Silence...

“It's not much of a secret if someone already knows.” Flèche seems confused. “Listen, Flèche... I think Blue knows. Trace already knows... I wouldn't be surprised if Blue can see it, too...”

“Well, I say worry about that when the time comes. Getting stressed out like this is bad for you. Come on, let's go on with our day.”

I nod. “Okay.”

I think I might as well get to cooking dinner. I get everything ready, prepare my tools and ingredients, and start cooking. My mind starts to wander...

Did I give Blue my phone number? Did I get his? I don't think so... Maybe Trace has it. I'll call her about it in a second. Tomorrow is Saturday, so it would be nice if Trace, Blue, and I could go hang out somewhere. Maybe we'll go see a movie? I heard that Precious Blue Child got a sequel. Maybe we could go see that. I haven't read or watched the first one, but maybe I could still follow this one. I just hope Trace doesn't know that it's based on a book... If I told her about it, she'd refuse to see it until she's read the book, then go see the movie, pick it apart, and call it crap, ruining what could be a perfectly acceptable film for me. She did that with Outsider, too.

Ah, it's no big deal. I'll just call her and make plans to see it. Just... please don't let her know about the books... If she has Blue's number, we could invite him along, too. For the longest time, it's just been me, Trace, and our Magic Knight Forces. It'll be fun to add a new person to our group, especially if it's Blue. At least I'm pretty sure Blue won't complain about a movie being a bad adaption of a book that almost nobody our age even really read.

And now, dinner's done. I must admit that I feel kind of funny, just sitting here and eating by myself. It just sort of seems like I should eat with other people. Ah, it doesn't matter. Bon appetit!

...

The next morning. As I wake up, I hear someone outside, ringing the doorbell. I quickly throw something on and I go to the door.

“...hey!” It's the Shade Phoenix Knight! What is he doing here!?

“Whoa whoa whoa! One second!” What does he want? “I'm not here to hurt you. See? I don't even have my Force with me.” He seems to be unarmed, and I don't sense his Magic Knight Force.

“Okay, what do you want?”

“Listen. I was just supposed to bring you this...”

He hands me a piece of paper, which I cautiously take. It reads:

Magic Knight, I see you have great power. I'd like to ask you to come help me with something that may be of assistance to you. Can you come to this address tomorrow morning? I'll be waiting. Strife.

“...what does this mean--”

When I look up, he is already gone. I don't see anything suspicious about the paper aside from the message on it... Is this some sort of joke?

I decide to call Trace about it.

“...Oh, so you got that message, too?”

“Are you kidding me? I called Blue, and he got that, too!”

So they did exchange numbers at some point... but seriously. What's going on? “What in the world? Who sent this? Who's this Strife person? Ugh...” This is going to turn into a big pain in the butt... I can already feel it...

“I wouldn't think too hard about it. Come on, let's just go to the address tomorrow, Cleo.”

“What!? This could be some kinda trap!”

“I know that,” Trace replies, as if there's not a thing in the world to worry about. “I just... I think it might be okay. Look, on Thursday, that guy showed up at Blue's house and tried to kill him, but when Blue's Magic Knight Force made contact, he backed off. I think he was doing a job for someone, at least that's what he said...”

“Trace, I don't like this...”

“I know, I know... but listen. This Strife person must know where we live, otherwise that guy wouldn't have found us.” I'm getting worried... “Cleo? You still there? Look, we're gonna figure out what's going on if we just go there. Just keep your guard up. We'll be okay.”

“Okay...”

“Well, see you.”

“Wait, Trace! I, uh... You wanna go see a movie today? We could get tickets for the new Precious Blue Child.”

“Huh!? Uh...” She seems to be thinking about it. I did bring it up out of nowhere, so I can't blame her. “...ah, whatever. I'm cool with that. We can go see it. I'll call Blue up and he can come, too." I I can feel her silly grin through the phone... "You'd like that, right?”

I hesitate. “Uh-huh.”

“Hehehe... Of course you would. Ha ha ha—”

“Oh, shut up, Trace! Quit it!” Why does she have to embarrass and tease me like this?

“Aw, what's the matter, Cleo? Don't you want Blue to be close to you? Don't you want Blue inside of you--”

I hang up. Sheesh... Yeah, Trace and I are friends, but sometimes she just acts like a goofy kid and I can't stand it. I guess it's okay, since she's only messing around, though. Welp, let's get ready to go to the theater...

So I throw something on and walk down the hill towards the bus stop.

...

After about 10 minutes, it comes. Trace and Blue are already there when I get on.

“Hey, girl!” Trace waves to me, and us three sit together in pretty much the same place as last time.

“What's up Cleo?” Blue asks.

“Nothing much. There's that weird message we all got, but I'll worry about that tomorrow.”

“Yeah, Cleo's right. Right now let's enjoy ourselves. We're gonna see... what again?”

I face Blue, and say: “We're going to see the sequel to Precious Blue Child. What's it called, Trace?”

She shrugs. “I don't know, I'm just coming to see it with you two. I don't know anything about it aside from the whole sequel thing.” So she doesn't know... That's good.

“Oh, it is Abandoned Blue Child,” Blue says eventually. “I should know—hey, wait... Cleo, what's up with your hair... and your skin?”

Whoops! I forgot to dye my hair today and it's still white! Skin's still pale as a ghost's, too. This is not good. “Wha—I, uh... I was just trying something different... You don't like it?”

Blue just sort of stares. “It's nice, just... kinda different. You usually go for something really colorful, it seems, so white hair makes you seem sick, or... 'dead'...” Why did he have to notice it? at least it doesn't seem like he knows this is the real color of my hair.

...

So we rode the bus, arrived at the theater, and got our seats. Abandoned Blue Child was a really good movie. It was about a world where the gods decided they could leave the humans to live as they wished after a hero proved that humanity would be fine without them, but centuries later, something happens and the conflict of the plot becomes if the humans can save their world without the gods' help... After the movie, we all stand outside the theater, talking about it.

“That was some good stuff, huh, Trace?”

“Uh...” Oh boy. “Well, I liked it... but what was up with the ending? I mean, the gods came out and solved everything... what a lazy and obvious goddamn cop out.”

Blue jumps in. “That was the whole point. The gods are spending the whole time debating if they should help or not. You'd see that some of the gods were dead at the end, if you watched closely. There was a whole big fight over if they should interfere, and how.”

Oh, crap! I shoot Blue a threatening look, but he either doesn't see it or is ignoring me...

“There was nothing in the movie like that!” Trace blurts out. Blue starts to speak again... I put my fingers to my lips, to tell Blue that he needs to shut up, but he still isn't paying attention! Oh, whatever gods and deities there might be out there, make him stop!

“I know, Trace. They had to cut it due to time constraints.”

“Blue, stop! Don't say it!”

“It would have been cool to see that scene on the big screen. I really liked that part when I read the no—oof!!!”

The only thing that I could have done to stop him was to quickly reach over and punch him in the stomach, and I did just that.

“Aaaah! Why did you hit me!?”

“Why didn't you listen to me?!” Blue makes this puzzled face. He really doesn't get it... “Darn it, Blue! Trace hasn't read the novel yet!”

Trace looks up at both of us. “So... there was a novel... for this movie...?”

We both nod.

“And... NEITHER OF YOU TOLD ME.”

Silence...

“...FU—

...

As we ride the bus away from the crowd gathering around us, Blue and Trace are still arguing...

“Oh, come on, Trace, don't make such a big deal out of it... it's nothing--”

“It's not nothing!” Trace hasn't been this angry in a while. She's impossible to talk to when she's like this. “Blue, I missed a whole half of the goddamn plot! You said that! That's not freaking nothing!” People are starting to stare at us...

I turn back towards the two. “Sssssh!!! You two are drawing attention! Calm down!”

Trace just gets louder. Somehow. “Don't give me that! You're just as guilty as he Blue is! You knew about the book, just like he did!”

“Uh... if it makes you feel better... I didn't actually read the book, Trace...”

She ignores my saying that... “Aaaaaaaargh!” Trace points at Blue. “I am never going to see a movie with you again!”

“...well... Fine!” Blue gets up, and sits next to me. “My God! How was I supposed to know she took it so freaking seriously!?”

Oh great, he's gonna start complaining about it... “C-calm down Blue, she'll be her normal self tomorrow.”

Today's outing didn't go as planned... We all go home tired and irritated...