「⛧✧ϟ✧⛧」

Sabrina was admittedly a bit taken aback by the entirety of the situation. The environment alone was enough to put her on high alert, making her usual stiff demeanor and posture all that more easy to pick apart from the usual crowd. She assumed it was rather easy to tell she did not frequent places such as these.

While she did not belong here…she had a purpose. And once the redhead had seemed to understand why she was here, it would be easier to move the conversation along, and distract herself from the very obvious uncomfortable air she was surrounded in. This was unnatural, and it was making her feel rather odd.

“I am indeed. I see you have heard of me before as well.” Clearing her throat, she did her best to just focus on Natsume. “I would have introduced myself, but it seems there is no need for that. I came to inquire…about your own abilities. I am rather curious, since I had only recently heard that you too possessed such an ability. May I ask for your company to satisfy my own curiosities since we are both blessed with such a talent?”

 It was quite obvious that the girl before him was uncomfortable with the situation she found herself in. Natsume didn’t imagine it’d be naturally easy for anyone to step foot into a strip club. Of course, he too had been embarrassed when he first stepped into the club. The only reason he was in such a tasteless establishment was to have a reunion with that precious child of his. And maybe that senior too.

 So seeing the girl act so composed at such a place where most guests are seeking for either thrlil or pleasure, Natsume couldn’t help but plot up a devilish plan. There was always the option to play it out normally. Have that normal conversation the other wanted. What fun would that be though? And like a game that offered a choice, he picked the most entertaining one.

@switchmagie

Sabrina found herself balancing along the fine line of too much detail and too little. Her mind always tipped back and forth ever so delicately, that it was difficult to find her stability in her own thoughts at times. There were many things that plagued her, curiosities about the world at large and what part she played.

Fate…it was something she believed very strongly in. The universe had a plan for everything, this she knew. What that plan was…well no one was certain. It was the mystery of life, and one she didn’t wish to solve, at least for herself. Twists and turns led her to rumors of a fortune teller, said to be able to see the fates themselves. And of course, naturally, she needed to investigate.

 Another long day of school had just ended and out of habit, Natsume had settled at the Haughty Vixen to set up his small fortune telling booth. Satisfied with the sight of the DJ table in front of him, the fortune teller had started spreading out the set of tarot cards across the table he had claimed as his own. Since his fortune telling had brought a surplus of customers lately, even the owner of the establishment had complained to him once about it.

 Hearing his name suddenly being called out by a voice he wasn't familiar with, Natsume had assumed that it was another customer that had heard of his services. Had it not been for a faint whisper informing him the identity of the person, he may not have turned his head to meet the girl’s curious stare. With a curl of his lips, he greeted the other fellow ‘thread seer’ with some interest of his own.

@switchmagie

It was late.

Very much so.

It usually was by the time the club closed and Sora finished cleaning up the DJ booth. At that time he would usually do a bit of exploring before he headed back to his small apartment.

He called it exploring but it was more like Sora getting lost trying to find someplace that was still open to buy food to eat for his dinner. Usually that included either trekking to or catching a bus to North Danon where there was a shop that sold premade meals at decent prices. And usually Sora was very good about not missing his stop.

He was a good kid after all, and he was doing his absolute best to not have to make people worry about him now that he was living by himself in a foreign place.

So… how was it that he’d ended up in Ouvara? 

Sora looked around the other capital city with bright eyes. It was a whole other city for him to explore! One that he’d never even stepped foot in because he lived and worked and even went to school in Danon.

“Hoho~ Sora must have got on the wrong bus~” the blonde mused out loud, letting his feet walk on their own as he looked around.

Though he was absolutely certain he’d never entered Ouvara before, his feet seemed to know where they were going and Sora just went with it. There was this familiar pull…

As he rounded yet another corner out of an alleyway, Sora’s eyes lit up at the sight of red hair with white highlights in a very familiar cut. Was it? Could it be? What were the chances? 

But there was no mistaking that ever so familiar pull and Sora’s happiness could not be contained as he picked up speed to throw his arms around Natsume, reveling in the familiar pretty scent that always followed Natsume around.

 Since moving, Natsume had regretfully not been able to keep in touch as much as he had hoped with his friends or unit mates. Continuing to chase his dreams, he busied himself with the never ending jobs given to him by both his parents and idol agency. After learning the inner workings of his magical past, he had set his goal higher and had found his path leading to Ouvara.

 Somehow a sense of familiarity accompanied the new views of the city. Classes had just ended and the redhead was on his way back to his studio to make some preparations for his next fortune telling session. Just as he was about to enter his building, a familiar voice called out an old title only one person had ever called him. How interesting, the way fate worked in this place.

 His body had been pushed a little before arms of the energetic child wrapped around him. Natsume welcomed the warm embrace with a smile as he turned to his student.

Her smile fell. There was something weird about the way he spoke his last sentence– well stranger than usual – that Hiyori couldn’t help give him a stare before looking back to her book.·

“I-it’s not like it’ll curse me…” But it was old and Hiyori did recall her grandmother saying it was given to her by another relative. Perhaps…there was a chance it was cursed?! Grandmother Iki did have a knack of trying to meddle with spirits or so Hiyori remembered. Maybe she’d done something to protect the book!

Whatever Natsume said, or done, to get her to change her mind well…it worked. Hiyori couldn’t help but pout, a little embarrassed that he had to witness such a childish act on her behalf.

“You…you don’t happen to have an eraser with you do you?”

 Chuckling at her amusing reaction, he took note of the small pout. How cute. Leaning under the table to open the flap of his messenger bag, Natsume gracefully retrieved his pencil case. Rummaging through it a little, he pulled out an eraser and held it out to Hiyori.

 “I’m glad you UNDERSTAND~ Books are highly valued amongst the people, holding much knowledge and MYSTIQUE.”

 Not only would harming such a wonderful book be in bad taste, he also believed that it’d be unfair for the future generation of Hiyori’s lineage to find the name of a stranger scribbled in the depths of it. Or, perhaps a myth may be spun within the girl’s family of a fox named after him. Now wouldn’t that be an interesting story to tell.

“A fancy coffee -special seasonal flavors and ultra detailed caramel decoration- resting over his table, as he was now re-reading a notebook full of scribbles with the notes for the summer institutional law class. It was a boring yet difficult class, and it seemed like it’d be better to take a flash course during summer -as hard as it could be- than juggling it with the rest of his classes next semester. He also had time for it during his vacations, even though it was a dread to walk in the sun towards his classes.

So, more often than he’d like to admit, he ended up giving up on returning home, and evacuated to some cool place until the weather was better. That was the why behind him studying at his cafe, even though he wasn’t as much of a fan from the place.

If anything, he felt more comfortable here since another Yumenosaki graduated had a part-time here. The blue haired bunny was always nice and sweet, so it felt like a nice breeze of fresh air.

Of course, he haven’t expected to meet yet another Yumenosaki graduated on this situation. To be fair, he wasn’t even aware of Natsume’s presence in Bellevue, rather busy with his own situation. Neither had they kept any sort of close relationship back at school, as little interaction as possible between the two of them.

That’s why it was such a surprise so see him there, reading fortunes -what a callback to high-school- and eventually calling out to him. Leaving his study for a moment, izumi closed the notebook and threw a glance at the redhead.

“Fortune telling, you say?” voice uninterested, Izumi raised a hand to his chin, legs crossed under the table. He couldn’t help, however, to have his blue eyes widen in surprise at the mention of a… name. He haven’t heard in a while.

Yuu-kun… it had been a while since he had seen the blond -beyond the endless pictures of him he still kept in his phone and in far too many albums-. It’d be a lie to say he didn’t missed the times when he could see him almost everyday -even if the other ran away at every chance he had.

“Can’t say I wouldn’t be interested if you could bring him here” he replied. His own weakness was too obvious to play tough “But I’m not delusional enough to try and believe in ‘magic’ for that, Sakasaki.”

 He knew that name would instantly lure the older male’s gaze towards his table. The relationship between his fellow gamer with the model before him was quite unique and Natsume knew that, making it easy to lay out his trap. Now that he’s got Izumi’s attention, analytical eyes quickly made notes on the other. A tedious trait he had since childhood.

 The model was as haughty as ever. That arrogant posture, was exactly how Natsume remembered that supposedly knightly idol. It was a tad irritating, even though he had to admit that the other excelled at being an ideal idol and he can see why Knights was such a strong unit. However, that was then and this is now. Smile unwavering even though those memories has been a little vexing, he chuckled at the the other’s response.

 “That wouldn’t be fair to Ukki-kun, now would IT?” He reverted back to calling his ex-classmate a nickname used by another friend of his. “Though I have been keeping in touch with HIM, mainly through the mmorpgs we play TOGETHER. He is quite the formidable FOE, but an even better ALLY. Ah, I assume you’re uninterested in these tidbits about HIM.” He stopped himself short of speaking too much about his friend. That would be like feeding free information to a hungry wolf. It would only lead to a ‘bad ending’. 

 With a thoughtful hum, he came up with another interesting offer for his old senior. “Do you believe in the tales of this CITY? That of the ‘red THREAD’? ᎮᏋᏒᏂᏗᎮᏕ ᎩᎧᏬ’ᏒᏋ ፈᏬᏒᎥᎧᏬᏕ ᏗᏰᎧᏬᏖ ᎩᎧᏬᏒ ᎧᏇᏁ?” 

 Since moving to Bellevue, he had seen strings of red flitting about, tying certain people together. Some that ran off for eternity. And the rare ones with snapped ends. Perhaps it was due to his innate ability with magic. Peculiarly he could not see his own. But for the model before him, it was evident that they existed.

Already feeling fed up with the situation, Shugarl had paid Natsume’s words little to no attention at all. Whether or not Natsume was finding this situation amusing, or was trying to goad him to becoming even angrier was beyond him. In order to reduce the amount of stress he was already feeling, he chose to ignore the younger male’s presence for the time being.

He chose to just sit on the couch, take small sips of his water and wait for him to speak of something… anything that was relevant. Once he did, only then did Shugarl take the time to listen to the words which were being spoken.

Simple enough, yes.

     "In that case, get started on the booklets.             I’m sure both of us want out of this situation as soon as possible.“

Why it was that he was required to supervise was beyond him. This was an abuse of power to say the very least. However, as dictorial as the Professor was, he did take his work seriously. He wished for students to truly learn and master the material being taught. Also, by doing this, he could deduce (through indirect means) whether or not Natsume was cheating.

Under the scrutinizing eyes of the Geripeta, none who were cheating could get past his watchful eyes. The man did carefully watch as Natsume was dutifully working on his workbook. He was pacing his way through the booklet rather well if Shugarl could say so himself. Shifting his positioning, he leaned to look at Natsume’s progress. Performing mental calculation in his head, he could see that this peculiar child did know what he was doing. His attitude and personality may not agree with Shugarl, but he was no dunce.

     "So it appears you are pretty decent with math.              Looks to me that you’ll be out of here with record timing.”

As irritable as the man could be, when done right, he could be easily appeased.

 As his pencil scribbled away in his workbook, he monitored his TA’s mood through his peripheral vision. At this point, it was important that the other’s points for him didn’t continue dropping. It may be a tad annoying to multi-task as such, but he was determined to prove his capabilities to the professor and TA. 

 Quite pleased at Shugarl’s reaction, he continued to swiftly attack question after question. The praise, if one can call it that, was bonus points. Wonderful. He wouldn’t even have to use a spell at this point. One book completed, just one more to go. His momentum didn’t dwindle as he completed half of the book already.

 Once he moved on to the next question, his pencil slowed. Drat. This one type of question always had him frustrated to the point giving up. Probability distribution was one of his nemesis. There were times he immediately gave up the moment he encountered such question. To save time, he’d search up the answers and study the process. 

 This was definitely not an option at all. 

 Tapping his pencil against his chin, his lips twisted up as frustration increased. He wasn’t one to admit defeat and racked his brain trying to recall what he had studied. Only a giant blank came up and his irritation only worsened. Golden eyes instinctively looked up at Shugarl, a math genius according to his professor. However, no words left his mouth. Refusing to ask for help, he grumbled out the question in an attempt to solve the problem.