Our Sensei had barely stepped out of the room before the chattering started. Zero, sprawled across his desk, was recounting his strange dream to both myself and Ichii, about a big maze filled with locked doors. Much to his frustration, he never found a way out, as Ichii woke him up by lobbing a pillow at his head.

The brunette, casually examining his nails, didn't look sorry in the slightest. Considering Zero had overslept, he wasn't necessarily in the wrong.

Nor was he or Zero sorry about the pillow fight that ensued. One that I was promptly dragged into and very swiftly ended. I don't think either boy expected me to be so adept with my weapon, but unbeknownst to them, I had years of practise. Pillow fight champions had to be crowned at each and every sleepover I attended when I was young. It got especially intense when Kei's competitive older brother joined in.

"Do you remember your dreams?" He asked, chin propped up on his palm.

Ichii shook his head, which was as much as I expected. In the past two weeks or so, he's only ever been able to remember his nightmares. That self same thing, and my resident stalker problem, were only a few of the numerous reasons why Zero and Ichii had been Sleeping Over for the past week.

My mother was so thrilled about having the boys around, she'd dragged them in to get settled even before hearing our cock-and-bull excuse about their apartment being flooded. I was beginning to think that she was planning on adopting them, purely because she was the one offering for them to stay longer. Nonetheless, it allowed all three of us the chance to keep an eye on each other, something which thankfully seemed to have lessened the brunette's night terrors.

Zero's probing eyes fell on me, his nails drumming a restless rhythm against the desk. The boy never really was particularly subtle when it came to showing concern, considering a two-tonne truck could show more discretion than him. Honestly, it was practically tangible.

"Oh," I smiled, wondering whether he could notice how fake it was. "I dreamt of the ocean."

"Just the ocean?"

"Just the ocean." I confirmed, lightly.

I didn't mention that I was drowning.

Zero, apparently not seeing anything suspicious with this, stopped interrogating me telepathically, and stretched out. "Maybe we should go to the beach next holiday?"

I gave an indulgent nod. Like Hell we should.

"We've already been to the beach." Ichii reminded him, absently doodling little flowers on the corner of his notebook. The nerd. He already had faded pen marks up his arms from where he did the same thing two days ago, with his skin for paper.

"Yeah, but that was with them. We didn't get to enjoy it."

Ichii's pencil halted for a moment as he considered this. I thought of the twenty foot waves from my dream, and shuddered, imagining myself back in those swirling depths, choking on water, begging and pleading for it to just let me die. I noticed that the brunette was looking at me from the corner of his eye. We traded a long glance from around Zero, who rolled his eyes and pretended not to notice, before Ichii continued scribbling. "We'll see." Zero, groaning, almost face-planted the desk. "In any case, let's talk it over at home."

"You're such a mother."

"Damn right I am. Watching your ass is practically a full-time job."

Pouting, Zero sank into his arms, presumably to sulk in peace. Ichii stopped doodling to read my notes, at my request. He did this for all of three seconds, because Zero's head rose sharply, his brows furrowed deeply. He hadn't looked like that since last week, when faced with the prospect of being watched by, as Zero ever so affectionately called them, that bastard.

"Zero?"

His nose wrinkled, blue eyes staring out, as if he were looking into a different plane of reality altogether.

Ichii was watching, too. His fingers were unconsciously clenching around my book, creasing the pages. "Zero. Is it them?"

He didn't seem to hear the brunette, and instead mechanically got to his feet, walking into several desks on his way to the window. Their occupants shot him strange looks, before they returned avidly their conversations. Undeterred, Zero braced his hands on the ledge, staring out with the same pinched expression. Ichii was half set to follow him; he was partly out of his chair, one hand outstretched to shield me, incredibly hesitant to take any course of action with this limited information.

I felt icy shivers race up my spine.

Blissfully unaware of the incoming danger, my classmates continued to chatter on. Kei and Ayumi had turned in their seats and were carrying a conversation across the classroom with Hiro. They all looked so happy and carefree.

Please don't let them get hurt.

"Ichii?" In his wide eyes was thinly veiled panic. My heart started to pound. "Ichii, what do we do? If they attack us here, people are going to get hurt."

The brunette glanced from Zero to me and then back again, mouth gaping uselessly for a moment. "I- Um… Wards. I'll set some wards up. If Zero can keep them distracted long enough, we should be alright." Immediately, Ichii starting muttering under his breath. Since I knew what I was looking for, I could see the slight shimmering to the room as he began putting up protective wards.

Please don't let any of them get hurt.

All of a sudden, the bluenette's head stopped swivelling, and he froze, head tilted slightly upwards, focused on something directly ahead. "Ichii." He intoned warningly, in his trademark 'It's About To Go Down' voice.

As familiar as I was with this kind of magic, I could clearly see the subtle flash as Ichii's defences shattered. The said boy gave a ragged gasp and stumbled, hand flying to his head. Across the room, Zero had let out a sharp hiss, clinging to the window ledge to keep himself upright, evidently in pain.

Even I could feel a change in the atmosphere. There was a charge, like electricity in the air, pulsing in the back of my subconscious.

"What's going on?" I murmured, steadying him as inconspicuously as I could. Thankfully, most of the class were too locked in their own little worlds to notice. Technical Difficulties usually took a while to sort out, and with our sensei currently MIA, it was the perfect chance to huddle together and gossip.

"Strong." He managed to spit out, through gritted teeth. "They're really strong... This- this power is intense."

I pushed him down into my own chair, snatching up my tactical pen from the strap of my bag. Ignoring the way Ichii tugged on my sleeve to try and get me to leave, I planted my feet in a firm stance, pen ready to defend us both. And I glared. I mustered up every drop of self-righteous fury and directed it straight at the point Zero had been staring at, willing whoever dared to hurt my friends to feel it, too.

From next to me, Ichii stirred. Zero made a surprised noise, glancing back at the two of us with an unreadable look on his face.

For a brief moment, they both seemed okay. Zero's eyes were dissecting every inch of my face. But then another wave of pain hit them, and they were back with gritted teeth, and Zero's nails were digging right down into his palms-

And then it all stopped.

Zero blinked.

Ichii took a deep, shuddering breath.

Our sensei entered the class with a technician, and the chattering instantly stopped, guilty heads turning to face the front.

"Hikari? Zero?" He looked sternly at us, the why are you out of your seats, left unspoken.

Zero still looked rather pale, and very much like he either wanted to drag myself and Ichii out of class for a discussion, or throw his up guts right there and then. Ichii had begun muttering enchantments under his breath again, mouth covered with his hand. He'd managed to slip unnoticed behind his own desk in the commotion, which was a relief.

"It's stuffy in here." I said, a little awkwardly, as Zero wasn't in any state of mind to make up excuses. "We were going to open some windows."

Looking very much like he'd rather be doing anything else, Zero followed through and opened a singular window, and the both of us hurriedly sat back down. After a while, the issues were resolved and the lesson continued, though I really couldn't find it in myself to concentrate on whatever equation we were supposed to be learning. Bit of a shocker, but the quadratic equation wasn't really top of my priorities list right now.

The instant the lesson ended, we escaped into a disused classroom on the third floor. Zero sat down heavily, nursing a cool bottle of water I'd given him. Ichii had grabbed some juice from the vending machine as we passed, brushing away my apologies about not having anything for him.

After throwing back some painkillers, the two slouched in their seats for the longest time, just staring into space. Pearl had emerged from Ichii's bag to cuddle with me, and was making little smoke rings to try and cheer me up.

Eventually Zero snapped out of his reverie and started scuffing his foot along the floor, glowering at it like it had somehow wronged him.

"Guys?" I ventured, cautiously. "What happened back there?"

Zero rocked his chair a bit, choosing his words carefully. "That bastard was back. At least, I think they were." In the wake of his uncertainty, Ichii only shrugged. Helpful. "Do you remember us telling you that we can sense magical power?"

"Of course. Ichii said you were better at it than him, I think?"

A little bashful, he scratched his head. "Well, I wouldn't say better. Mine is more sensitive, so I usually sense things first, and it's easier for me to tell apart different people's magic. But that's beside the point- I detected the bastard's magic. It was muted and really faint- they were using spells to conceal their presence, making them invisible both physically and magically. It was hard to zone in on it. The trace was really faint, I only noticed by chance."

"It sort've looked like you went into a trace."

"Ah. That was because I was focusing on sensing the magic. You have to block out your surroundings for it to work, so it must've looked weird. In any case, I found them outside, on the window ledge. They dropped some of the enchantments after they knew I'd noticed them and, well…"

"Their magical power was intense." Ichii continued, while Zero drained the bottle. "Bigger than I'd ever felt before. Zero probably had it much worse than me, actually. See, when you get hit with that much, so suddenly, it overwhelms your senses. It felt like my head was splitting open."

"It was awful." Zero agreed.

I glanced down at Pearl, who had been sitting quietly this whole time. A rarity, I assure you. "Did you feel it, too?"

He nodded, upset. "Yeah. It hurt too much to move, even though I was really trying."

I gently stroked behind his little horn, biting my lip.

Zero had been drumming his fingers against his thighs for a while, anxious. "I don't think that was their power." He said, after a while. "They must've had something like Hikari's necklace- an object infused with magic. If they were that strong, I would've felt it sooner, even if they were using concealment spells."

Ichii nodded. "That's true. Especially as we've felt their power before, and it wasn't nearly that strong."

"In any case, if they had that much power, Hikari wouldn't have been able to fight them off. They would've taken her down in one blow." At my downcast expression, he lightly pushed my head back up. "Hey, none of that. You saw what just sensing that did to me. It's not because you're weak- 'cause even I'd be utterly useless, despite all my training."

I flopped down, but draped my body across Zero's legs, to let him know I wasn't angry with him. "This doesn't make sense. If they were as strong as you're saying, why'd they just leave like that?"

He grimaced. "That's the one thing that's got me stumped."

Ichii could only sigh, pinching the bridge of his nose between his thumb and forefinger. "This is a mess."

"Way to state the obvious." Pearl puffed a little flame at the bluenette, which Zero began to play with. "You should put wards up around the school."

"Yeah, I was thinking the same." He got to his feet, brushing the dirt from his knees. "Let's go get something to eat. I need my energy, or…"

He didn't finish his sentence. He didn't need to, really. Both Zero and I already knew what would happen. Ichii had been relentlessly reinforcing the house for days on end. Not long ago he'd passed out, utterly exhausted. He hadn't been eating properly, and had barely been sleeping. In the end, he ended up half dead for the rest of the day in an almost comatose state, with Zero carefully monitoring his magic power.

It'd been absolutely awful.

Zero had been considering calling Jeff to get help. Thankfully, Ichii started to improve soon after, so in the end it wasn't necessary. Zero later confessed that some deity must've really been looking out for us, for there would've been Hell to pay if Sarasa ever found out her little brother had been allowed to work himself into such a state.

I smiled. It felt strained at the edges. "Food sounds great."

If either boy noticed, they didn't say a word.