Chapter 3: Ghosts of the Past

Mihara walked around the room slowly, pacing as though she was contemplating something. His expression worried, Yukinari's eyes followed her. He still wasn't really sure what was going on, but from what he had been able to gather, he had been kidnapped and taken to Seiren by what appeared to be the ghost of Miharu's ancestor who had somehow survived and created a physical body for herself. Nothing of this situation made sense, but at the very least he hadn't been taken to a whole new planet or something.

His arms were tied behind a chair that he sat on. It was uncomfortable, but at the very least he could move his legs. Watching Mihara carefully, he looked around the room for any possible escape routes. Not that he expected to get very far, but there wasn't much else to do.

"Well, if I'm to tell a story, might as well get comfortable again." Mihara said with a grin, wandering back over to Yukinari. As he visibly tensed, she proceeded in straddling him, wrapping her arms around his neck for balance. He could feel the familiar fear of being touched by a girl as she gently rubbed against his crotch, but for some reason, his allergy hadn't flared yet.

"Your affliction seems not to know the difference between my descendant and I." Her lips curled into a smirk. "Nature seems to be playing a game here." As quickly as it had appeared, her smile was replaced with a slight frown. She held onto Yukinari a little tighter as she began to speak.

"Well, I would rather finish this quickly, so let's get started with the bittersweet story."

1000 years ago, Seiren

Bursting out of the door to her home, a girl with ice-blue hair panicked as she rushed to the centre of the city.

"Mihara! You forgot breakfast!" Her mother shouted after her to the rapidly fading back whizzing towards the city. Mihara turned her head, looking back.

"I don't have the time! I'll be late for the exam!" And with that, she disappeared. Her mother sighed, turning back into the house.

"Honestly... That girl doesn't know if she's coming or going..."

"Will she be alright?" A voice came from the young girl standing in front of her. "I worry for her, she can be so air-headed at times."

"It seems the younger sister got most of the brains" Her mother laughed as she walked past Mihara's younger sister. "Just be careful to learn from her mistakes, Mahora."

"But what good are brains, when she received all of the power." Mahora whispered dismally. "All I can do is support my big sister, I can't protect her..."

She opened her palms to the ceiling, conjuring a small ball of cerulean blue light that floated in the air. Her face contorted with concentration, she focused her energy on making the ball bigger, but eventually, the ball shrank and vanished. Sighing, she dropped her hands to her sides.

"I want to awaken soon. I want to protect big sister Mihara..."

The big sister in question was still racing to her destination, her school. As she ran, her eyes swept past numerous buildings, looking for all the world like one of the medieval town's on Earth. The gates between their worlds had been connected since the birth of the two planets, and someday, she wanted to visit the Earth, and find herself a man.

The school building loomed into her view. It looked like a giant castle, complete with moat and numerous towers and turrrets. She had always thought her school looked beautiful, but today she cursed at its enormity as she remembered it was going to take her at least ten minutes to reach her examination classroom from the front gate. As she ran, she internally screamed.

"Of all days to be late, why today!?"

Zooming past other students and teachers, some of which called out her name, she had no choice but to ignore them as she raced to her side of the building. Her power levels were known throughout the school as the highest in the history of the school, but control of that power had been, at least in the beginning, abysmal. A large section of the school had once been torn apart due to her powers raging out of control. Luckily, no-one had been injured, but as a precaution, they had her placed in Aquelle class, which had once been known as a class of troublemakers. Her teacher, Miss Kanzaki, had been trained to deal with huge power outputs like Mihara's, and stood waiting in front of the giant oak door of her class, not looking too amused.

"You're late!"

"I'm... so... sorry, miss... Kanzaki." Catching her breath, strands of hair fell across her eyes as beads of sweat ran down her neck.

"Any later and you would have been automatically failed." Sighing, Kanzaki gestured into the classroom. "Come in, I'll let you off. After all, this exam determines your entry into your second year, can't have my top student failing this close to the end."

Nodding happily, Mihara wandered into the classroom. The first thing she noticed was the other girl in the room, cleaning up the results to what looked to have been a huge explosion.

"Kirie!"

The girl jumped at the voice and turned around. When she recognised the owner of the voice, a huge grin appeared.

"Mihara! What happened? Did you get lost or something?"

"I overslept..."

"Figures..." Kirie giggled. "You can do everything right, except wake up in the mornings."

"What happened here?" Mihara indicated the blackened wreck of the room. However it was Miss Kanzaki who answered.

"Whilst Miss Kirie has passed, her powers went slightly out of control at the end. We're lucky to still have a class to examine in after that." Kirie nodded in agreement, looking sheepish.

"However, if the same thing happens to you, we might not have a school afterwards." Kanzaki chuckled as she sat down at the desk, organising the notes for the examination. "Miss Kirie, I would like to finish with Mihara's examination before nightfall, if possible. I will have to ask you to depart for the day. And again, congratulations."

"I understand." Kirie bowed her head respectfully. "Good luck!" She whispered to Mihara as she left the room. It was now just the two of them, teacher and student, left in the suddenly very large room.

"I have complete confidence in your abilities Mihara." Miss Kanzaki said as she completed her organisation of her notes and stood up, slowly walking around the room."The problem we face is... do you?" She grasped Mihara's shoulder lightly.

"The only thing holding you back is worrying whether or not you can control your own latent power. If you think you're powerful now, you'll be surprised for what the future might have in store for you. But if you continue to falter in believing in your own strength, Kirie will race ahead and leave you behind."

Returning to her chair, Miss Kanzaki sat down gently, folding her hands in front of her face. A small smile grew underneath her hands.

"It's time to begin. Summon your weapon."

Her nerves were rattling, but Mihara nodded, allowing a tiny sliver of power to release in order to form a staff made from pure ice. It was like pouring water from a bucket. If you poured gently, only a small amount of liquid would fall out. But Mihara's powers were a maelstrom, so much so that only allowing a small amount to escape took considerable effort from her part. Thankfully she didn't have to maintain the flow to allow the staff to keep its shape.

"Good. And as for your opponent..."

At a snap of her fingers, Miss Kanzaki summoned a clone made from ice. Mihara had faced against hundreds of these clones in training before, but she had heard that final examination clones were the hardest to defeat, but not necessarily due to their strength. With a grim smile and a realisation, she understood why they were so difficult. Her opponent was the complete replication of Kirie, her best friend in all of Seiren.

And if that wasn't hard enough, Kirie's hand-to-hand combat skills were way beyond anything Mihara could hope to achieve. Her only solace was from the knowledge that her magic was superior. If this clone could copy Kirie's skills, this would be her hardest fight yet. She was beginning to understand why the classroom had almost been destroyed before, and was beginning to seriously worry about the state of the school at the examinations conclusion.

"Your criteria for passing this examination is simple. You need only to defeat your opponent. I would ask that you not destroy Seiren in the process, but regardless of what may come, I cannot fail you based on anything other than a loss, a forfeit, or death." With stern eyes, Miss Kanzaki's eyes seemed to sparkle at the scene before her. She was gong to enjoy this particular examination. This was the reason she had saved Mihara until last. Taking a deep breath, she looked towards the two combatants.

"Begin!"

Hello!

It's been a while, hasn't it?

February 23rd, 2010 was the last time I updated this fiction. Six long years later, and a lot of development as a person, I'm ready to update xD and whilst the barebones plot of the story remain, there has been some changes to the original plot. But you'll love it, I promise. ;)

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