Collapse of Eastern Fantasy

Epilogue

It's late morning, and sunlight shined down on the Hakurei Shrine after last night's events.

Reimu groggily woke up from where she was lying down, still exhausted from her last battle. After thinking about the mess that's bound to still be there from the party, she considered to just go back to sleep and deal with it later, but just sighed and decided to get it over with.

Ironically, she can somewhat empathise with how Yukari sleeps a lot of the time now.

Coming out of the Shrine and into the grounds, she found Suika has already started on tiding up.

"How was last night?" Suika grinned at Reimu. The red-white shrine maiden merely scowled.

"Seriously, give me some warning the next time you plan to throw a party at my place. I don't think I've seen this place this messy since the last time you made Gensōkyō party practically non-stop for weeks."

"Ehehe…" Suika sweat-dropped while trying to laugh it off. "Still, I thought you might be a bit angrier at me for some reason."

"I'm too tired for that right now…" Reimu moaned. "I'll pay you back for this later, but now I just want to tidy up and maybe go back to sleep. At least you're helping to clean up, unlike some of the others…"

"Urggh…" Another voice came from the direction of the shrine. Reimu and Suika looked towards it and found Marisa stumble out of it, and looking as bad as Reimu. Then again, seeing they both used a lot of power last night it's reasonable for the two of them to be this tired.

"My head hurts… just what the hell happened last night?" Marisa asked.

"You mean you don't remember starting what's probably the largest fight in Gensōkyō history?" Suika grinned widely. "I haven't had this much fun in ages."

"I'm glad you liked it." Reimu remarked sourly. She then turned to look at Marisa. "Are you seriously telling me you don't remember what you did to that guy?"

"What guy…? Oh." Marisa's face of sudden realisation then turned into horror. "You have got to be kidding me… I did that?" After a night's sleep she managed to get the last of Ran's spell out of her system, and she can probably safely say that what she did was just after-effects from a illusion. She can't believe she turned away from who she truly loved with just a simple spell.

"Don't tell me you regret what you did - you looked pretty happy while doing that." Reimu said in an annoyed manner for reasons she doesn't quite know.

"What, are you jealous?" Marisa raised a eyebrow.

"Of course not. If you knew what I knew - " Reimu stopped herself before she told her what Yukari said. No point having everyone else in Gensōkyō worry about something that they can't influence.

Still, not being able to explain to Marisa irked her somewhat.

"Sigh… still, that kiss was really…" Marisa continued melancholically. As if lamenting that same event won't ever happen again.

"So you really didn't regret that!"

"And you really are jealous if you care about it that much!"

The two of them continued to verbally fight after that, and getting nowhere in their conversation.

Only after they both ran out of energy to continue Reimu turned towards Suika.

"That reminds me – just how much did Yukari tell you about her plan?"

"Only that I get a opportunity for a great party. I gave up on trying to figure out whatever schemes Yukari had in mind ages ago. Sure, she's one manipulative and annoying youkai at times, but ultimately she doesn't do anything that will endanger Gensōkyō. I'll trust her with that at least."

"Even so… 'not endanger Gensōkyō' and 'not sacrificing anyone' probably are two different things right?"

"Worried about that boy becoming a pawn in Yukari's schemes? It's not like you to be worried like this."

"Hey, it's only natural for me to not want humans be taken advantaged by youkai right? It is my job after all." Reimu said defensively.

"Right." Suika smiled and mercifully let the topic drop, seeing Marisa seems unhappy that Reimu is focusing so much on that boy.

For that one instant, all three of them wondered just what could that boy possibly be doing right now.

-o-

-o-

On a plane back to Academy City, the four members of GROUP gathered do discuss what had happened earlier.

"What happened earlier? One minute you were with us, the next some crack opened up in the sky and you vanished into it." Unabara asked.

"Hell if I know. My memory isn't cooperating right now, and I felt like I've been punched hard in the face again." Accelerator scowled.

"And we were ordered to return to Academy City right after you came back… Did you manage to recover our 'objective' while you were away?" Musujime asked curiously.

"Do I look like I brought someone else with me when I got back? You all saw me fell through a hole in the sky by myself, if what you say it's true." Not like he can remember exactly what had happened. Aleister made sure of it.

"Ignoring why we are called back for the moment… just what can you remember? We might be able to get something unexpected from all this." Tsuchimikado asked. He split up with the Amakusa Church earlier, taking a different plane when they all left Okinawa on the excuse of not wanting to leak trade secrets between the Science and Magic sides.

"Hmm…" Accelerator brought his hands up to his head and rubbed his temple. Even just trying to think back gave him a mild headache.

"'That guy' was at some sort of gathering, and when I went 'there', wherever that was, I was attacked." Accelerator said slowly, his recollection still foggy at best. He can remember something like looking down at some sort of building where a lot of them gathered. "If you wanted their characteristics, I can only say they are all females, and most of them looked like something right out of a fantasy; some had wings and all of them were dressed in something like a costume, and it didn't look like a uniform. They were all dressed somewhat differently.

"Their age varied, but none of them looked older than 25… then again for all I know they are much older." He remembered that time where he went to Yomikawa's school and saw a pink-haired 'teacher' that just had to be a result of one of Academy City's dark experiments – looks are definitely not a indication of real age.

"After I was somehow immobilised by one of them, the next thing I know is waking up next to you people… Hey, just why are you looking like that?" Accelerator paused after seeing Tsuchimikado's face – one with its jaw dropped loosely and a look of shock on his face.

"It's that bad?" Unabara asked Tsuchimikado. "I'm no expert on the eastern organisations, but from what you look like right now I'm guessing they are some sort of well-known and dangerous group operating in this part of the world…?" Unabara stopped as Tsuchimikado started to laugh, slowly at first but gradually increasing in volume, until he was howling with maniacal laughter and finally almost collapsed in exhaustion.

"…" The other three looked at Tsuchimikado, and then at each other.

"You know, I would have betted that Accelerator would be the first to completely lose it out of the four of us; not him, as even as a pervert he's at least somewhat sane." Musujime remarked.

"Funny, after seeing you that night dragging the 'Remnant' around and mouthing off at me, I would have thought it would be you." Accelerator replied coldly.

Unabara looked as if to add to the snarking, but was cut off by Tsuchimikado's own ranting:

"Daaaaaaaaaaaaamn you Kami-yan! You've gone ahead and completed 'that' harem without telling me or Aogami? ! One where each and every fetish is covered, the final bastion which lies beyond the dreams of men? YOU SAY YOU ARE FILLED WITH MISFORTUNE, BUT HOW IS IT YOUR LUCK WITH THE LADIES IS JUST SIMPLY UNGODLY? !"

"… Ignoring for the moment that you know 'that guy' personally, how did you get to that conclusion?" Accelerator raised one eyebrow.

"Are you KIDDING me? Everyone knows that a Party is also known as an Org-" A iron fist from Musujime shut him up before he could pollute the air with his wild theories.

In the end, they decided all this speculation is inconclusive, and they'll just have to find out more about this later.

-o-

-o-

Back at the Japanese district of London where the Amakusa have their current headquarters, Itsuwa was being questioned by Tatemiya Saiji and the others.

"So, was what Kamijou Touma said true?" Tatemiya asked.

The Amakusa found both Touma and Itsuwa in a forest covered in red leaves, next to a small roadside wooden. It looked like Shinto in origin, and old with age. The various paper charms and other decorations show signs backing up just how ancient this shrine really is.

Though the most striking feature of that shrine was that the entire structure was covered with cracks, as if with another touch the entire thing will turn into dust. It took a lot of effort to move that to the St. George Cathedral for Necessarius to fully analyse the thing, and not breaking it in the process. As nothing conclusive can be found from something that was thoroughly broken by Imagine Breaker, they tried to ask Itsuwa for more details.

Kamijou Touma told them the Tachikawa-Ryuu was some sort of religious sect that was oppressed in the past, and to escape they created a pocket dimension and bided their time. But as time went by their souls are tainted by magic, until they became vengeful spirits. Seeking release from a eternity of regret and hatred, and having their souls bound to Earth they needed someone to destroy that shrine in order to be able to move on. Being fooled by their honeyed words, Touma destroyed the shrine to do what he thought was releasing souls into a peaceful death – only to find the taint from the magic meant they would be sent into oblivion instead of moving on, as their souls are more 'supernatural' than 'natural' – if souls are beyond Imagine Breaker's influence to begin with.

Itsuwa was used by them only as bait to get me there, and the entire hostage situation was a farce – they didn't even try threatening her well-being; That was what Kamijou Touma said with a hollow expression, clutching his head in what seemed like agony as he tries to come to term he has not just killed, but did something that could be far worse.

They knew they would be erased completely, and yet went ahead with that plan! He had yelled. They didn't want to think of any other alternatives… maybe Index could have helped them by breaking that spell… but WHY? Why did they just give up!

Seeing his grief, the Amakusa decided to not question him for more details – none of them had the heart to do so after seeing him broken like that, when not even the physical damage Acqua of the Back did make him wear that expression.

Itsuwa's own version didn't contradict Touma's – seeing as her captor seemed to have made sure there could be no possible useful data revealed to her. She had fought with one of the Tachikawa-Ryuu, and she could confirm at least their fighting style and magic is unlike any other magician they have ever seen. There was something about a Kaguya-Hime, but for all they knew it was just another piece of false information to throw them off.

But from what has happened, Necessarius decided a previous case called 'Angel Fall' can now be concluded as Tsuchimikado reported the ones responsible for that, the Tachikawa-Ryuu, is now deader than dead after this incident. 'Angel Fall' being orchestrated by them is not such a stretch of they can make Academy city flounder like that, and now the resources used to investigate that were diverted into other, more important issues… like a possible attack from the Roman Catholic Church.

Still, it seemed like Kamijou Touma was hiding something… it didn't felt like he was lying, but he certainly gave them the feeling he didn't tell them everything.

And so they asked Itsuwa. Something that she knew Touma had hidden in his talk with the rest of the Amakusa, but also kept her silence. They observed her face as he talked, and after he was done she was almost relieved… like glad he didn't mention something they both knew.

"Really, there's nothing more to add." Itsuwa stated stubbornly. But for some reason she instinctively averted her eyes as she talked for a split second, then tried to pass it off as looking at another member of the Amakusa instead of avoidance.

-o-

"Itsuwa…" Kamijou Touma asked her. "Can you go along with what I am going to tell the others?"

The two of them have just been dropped off out of a gap that Yukari opened, and Itsuwa was looking questioningly as he took off a glove on his right hand and went along to a small wooden shrine close to them. As he placed his right hand on it a resounding crack rang out, and the shrine was covered in fractures. The glove in his hand turned to dust and was blown away with the wind as the shrine disappeared.

"That depends… what are you going to say?" Itsuwa asked timidly. "And what is this about?"

"How much do you know about the 'Angel Fall' incident? I seem to remember you were surprised when I mentioned Kanzaki fought evenly against the Archangel 'Power of God'."

Itsuwa gulped. "Um, I don't really know much, just that you somehow managed to peek at the Priestess-sama during that time and still managed to live after taking a head-on strike by a Saint…!" Itsuwa blushed and stopped, turning away to hide her face.

"Wha-! That wasn't my fault! I was being pushed in by someone else…! Wait, that's not the point here." Touma struggled to get the conversation back on topic.

"The point is… someone I am close to started that incident. And to protect him one of my friends - " Touma considered briefly and decided yes, even if Tsuchimikado is a back-stabber and a pain in the neck at times, he is still a friend. " – lied about the ones being responsible. The incident was settled without anyone having to give up their life.

"But now, that could all fall apart."

Touma looked directly into Itsuwa eyes as she turned back to him, still blushing hard but not for reasons that Touma thought it was.

"That person could die – or be hunted down and interrogated – if the truth is known. He is just somebody who is unrelated with all this magic stuff, and somehow managed to pull off something big out of sheer coincidence. He doesn't even know what he has truly done… even not taking into account I don't want to see him hurt, magicians will get nothing from him either way. I'm asking you to protect him with me. I swear he will never do anything like that again, so it is perfectly safe to just let him go…" Touma's eyes are almost pleading now as he looked into Itsuwa's own.

"Please… can you help me?" Touma asked quietly.

"!" Itsuwa wanted to look away, but could not. His seriousness and sincerity is real, and the mere thought that she is being depended on by him is almost enough to make her legs buckle under her.

"U-um, you called this person 'him'… so he's a man right? Not a woman?" Itsuwa asked in a small voice.

"Well, yeah… no matter how badly I do in my studies, I think I can at least speak Japanese properly…" Touma frowned. "Why do you ask?"

"So the one responsible isn't one of those girls we've seen in… wherever we were before? We're not hiding some Magic Cabal that's out to do evil?" Itsuwa asked, half out of a duty to make sure she won't be letting someone that will abuse magic getting away, and half out of a small feeling that she doesn't want any of those girls she met to have a place in his heart – there is already enough competition from Kanzaki Kaori.

"Of course not." Touma answered without any doubt. He didn't get how Itsuwa connected Angel Fall with those people they just met, but he's too anxious to find out about Itsuwa's response.

Itsuwa then nodded, since she is not certain that she can give a clear verbal response with him so close.

"Thank you, Itsuwa." Touma stepped in and embraced her tightly in relief. From his lack of sleep and nerves, he probably wasn't thinking about the possible consequences with this action, especially when taking his misfortune into account. "You don't know how much that means to me."

"!" Itsuwa gasped at his daring move. Apart from that time he was somehow knocked into her chest back in Academy City once, this is the only other time they are in close physical contact.

"Oh, sorry!" Belatedly, Touma realised what he is doing and stepped away. "I suppose it's unnerving for someone else of the opposite sex to just hold on to you like that, I apologise… hey wait, are you alright? Your face is completely red, did you get sick from eating what was back there? I think you guys mentioned you needed to eat things in a certain way back at Chioggia… Hey, don't go fainting on me Itsuwa!"

So as Tatemiya Saiji and the rest finally arrived at the scene, they found Itsuwa lying in Touma's arm as he tried desperately to find out just what is going on.

Much 'misfortune' occurred before they got anything out of Itsuwa and Touma.

-o-

"Come on now Itsuwa. It's obvious you're both hiding something." Tatemiya sighed. "I don't think the Archbishop will send you to the 'Clocktower' for interrogation, but obviously actions will be taken. Kamijou Touma can't be touched since he's one of Academy City's people, but you're probably not off-limits. If a force such theirs, one that is capable of running circles around the Science Side is somehow not dead," Tatemiya corrected himself, "erased, then obviously the Anglican Church will want to contact them – dealing with them one way or another."

It's not hard to guess that Laura Stuart would want get something out of people that could give even Aleister a headache, and could even get away with it. Assuming those people are still there, or that Annihilatus from the Russian Orthodox Church wasn't dispatched to eliminate what they would see as abominations.

"No, really, there isn't anything else." Itsuwa said again, "And even if there is, it definitely isn't anything to do with what happened in the time after the shrine's destruction and when we were found - " She suddenly blushed and stopped talking.

Tatemiya raised a eyebrow. Everyone here can remember how they found those two when they finally got there.

"… I see." Tatemiya sighed as he stood up to leave. "We'll leave it as that. I can guess what happened now anyway."

"Which is…?" Itsuwa asked timidly.

"We won't pry into what happened between you and Kamijou Touma when you were alone. I'm sure a boy and a girl being alone will lead to various things - "

"HOW DID YOU ARRIVE AT THAT CONCLUSION? !" Itsuwa screeched while blushing even more violently. "I didn't do anything like that!"

Tatemiya shrugged. "What we saw was the both of you having messed up clothes like they have been through a lot, and you in his arms while the both you looked exhausted. I must say, I'm impressed that you managed to go that far when you are so nervous around him - "

"That was NOT what happened!" Itsuwa's words fell on deaf ears as the male members started to file out of the meeting room. All present decided it's just 'private matters' between the two of them, and it's prefectly reasonable for her to want to keep that out of her report.

"Should we pass on the good news to Kanzaki-sama?"
"Is that a good idea?"
"She would find out eventually anyway, might as well tell her ourselves before it gets distorted by rumours."
"Hey, I thought we wanted rumours to distort things like this…"

As their conversation started to fade away in the distance (and going on topics whether this will kill off the competition between Itsuwa and Kanzaki, or make the Priestess-sama go on another offensive), Tsushima finally decided to speak up.

"That's not really the case is it? Itsuwa?" The female side of the Amakusa tend to be a lot more perceptive in this area than the male side.

Itsuwa only nodded silently, too caught up on the implications of what kind of rumours the others might spread.

"Well, I'm guessing it's something he asked you to hide, and I'll trust the two of you will have planned this out so it won't hurt people. All the others, even Tatemiya-san, probably can guess something like this is the truth as well."

"Eh? But they just..."

"Hmph. They needed a plausible reason for you hiding things, and they just picked the first thing that came to their mind." Tsushima said in a disgusted tone. Still, seeing how half of London cought up with Tatemiya's previous rumour within days this is certainly a effective cover. "Having said that, as much as I hope this will make Kanzaki-sama give up, having rumours of the two of you doing something unknown together is bound to make her more serious in her approach. Things are only going to get harder now, so good luck, Itsuwa."

Eeeeeeeh? Itsuwa's response of how she would have to work even harder to reach that boy echoed into the corridors. Tatemiya and the rest of them definitely didn't do her any favours with their decided course of action.

-o-

-o-

"I take it things have gone as you have planned?"

With a gap between the Imaginary Number Sector and 'reality', DRAGON is conversing with Yukari Yakumo.

"There were a few minor hiccups, but nothing serious." Yukari chuckled. "Still, are you sure it would be prudent for you to talk to me like this when Aleister has doubled the vigilance he had before? Wouldn't want to get exposed now after coming this far… Aiwass."

Crowley's mentor smiled slightly at the mention of its name, and not the label Academy City had given it. While 'DRAGON' is a meaningful name in itself, this being felt like it was infringing on another Angel's territory given that name's history.

"This is perfectly safe. He is too busy right now using his sensors to discreetly comb through every part of that boy's body to see if anything has happened to it, than to check inconsequential disturbances in the AIM Dispersion Field. Even if this tiny part is found he can attribute it to the peculiarities that would occur when creating a physical body out of the AIM field – as my new host is yet to be completed."

Aiwass is currently nothing more than a image that can be seen through, just like how Kazakiri Hyouka was seen at times at Kirigaoka Academy before her complete manifestation in front of Index. Aiwass possesses long hair and flowing robes, but that is about all can be described at this moment.

"To think you would use your own student as a piece to further your own amusement… I think we would get along quite well." Yukari is reminded to the times she herself taught Reimu some tricks. "How like a youkai."

"I afraid I'm not quite what you are – I do not have attachments to much things, for one. You at least are still partially motivated to protect what you hold dear, while I do not. Isn't that why you sought me out in the first place?"

Before even Yukari had come with Eirin to scout out Academy City, she had struck a bargain with Aiwass. By making things more interesting when Artificial Heaven is not activated than if it is, Aiwass would help her keeping the current situation as it is. Removing the crucial piece of his plans in a sudden attack was the first step, to make him stressed and emotional. Aleister was human enough in that aspect.

Still, Yukari at least did not expect Crowley to manage to break into Gensōkyō. But that only made their next step much easier. Feigning overwhelming power beyond his understanding, and making it seem as if he was being toyed with on the palm of her hands was achieved in the span of one day instead of years. The result would be for Crowley to start to chase nonexistent phantoms that wanted to destroy his plans, when in actuality there was no such thing.

There might possibly be other conspiracies uncovered in his futile efforts, but that is not their goal. Things going 'just as planned' is boring, and it's always good to see Aleister unnerved – more likely to make mistakes, more likely to try and fix them and in the meantime make even more mistakes. Like building a house of cards, it is more fun when you know at any instant it could all crash down on you.

Of course, if any side is actually crushed the fun would be over. If there is no opponents there could be no conflict, and adding Gensōkyō into the mix when things are already hectic between the Science and Magic Sides is bound to make things more… interesting. Hopefully it might at least make everything last slightly longer in the resulting confusion.

Aiwass could always reveal Gensōkyō's existence to Crowley at the right time, to force the youkai species to openly participate in this game – and dragging the Lunarians into all of this could be interesting too, as advanced technology fighting each other might provide a good backdrop as the world falls into chaos.

As much as Aiwass is concerned, breaking down Yukari's plans for survival just for its own amusement is not worth the trouble – what is the spectacle of the collapse of one world compared to the utter confounding of the balance of not just one, but several worlds? Destroying Gensōkyō is easily enough, but ultimately would prove to be no more than a side show compared to the main event.

That was how Yukari managed to bargain with Aiwass, seeing as not much can be gained (from Aiwass' point of view) if Gensōkyō is gone – it would be better to interfere and allow its existence rather than let it disappear. Aiwass is more interested in watching the oh-so-human conflict and struggles, then gloat over the despair of others.

In addition, having another player that could betray this Angel who is Aleister's mentor to try and obtain its power would be a nice bonus – for all Aiwass knows Yukari might even manage to get to the point of being an actual threat. Certainly, she would be a more enjoyable opponent than Aleister Crowley, seeing as that ex-magician have spent a fair amount of time with Aiwass to know what each other might do; predictability is boring, after all.

"I must say, I'm interested in the 'vision' you showed the one called 'Satori'; Is that what you really thought Artificial Heaven would eventually do?" Aiwass' silhouette seemed to smile, though the image is still too hazy to make anything out. "It's not like you can see the future or anything."

"That was merely something to make her think about entering someone else's head uninvited." Yukari ignored how Aiwass could have possibly known what has happened in Gensōkyō. "Hopefully that would give her some incentive to start to learn to control her ability."

"I don't know why you bother; if it comes down to war raw power would not help you against this plane of existence made of AIM dispersion fields."

"The possibility of 'Life' is limitless, Aiwass… who knows what can be achieved if one actually tries?"

"True enough." Aiwass mused. That was probably one of the few reasons why he stayed to help Aleister – to see if with his hands he can start the chain of events that would allow humanity's potential to bloom into something more interesting.

Or with Kamijou Touma's Hand, for that matter.

-o-

-o-

"Sigh… seriously, these last few days was hectic." Kamijou Touma said tiredly.

After getting released from another trip to the hospital (this time he got sent there more due to Index's biting and Tsuchimikado's wrath than because of any harm from the incident itself), he trudged tiredly along the streets of the 7th school district.

Thinking back about what happened within the past day or so, there are plenty of things to consider:

Artificial Heaven.

General Superintendant Aleister's plans to throw the world in disarray.

Gensōkyō's plea for help, not forcing him to do anything except considering what Academy City's plans would do to the world.

And Yukari's complete and utter perfromance which suggests all that might be the truth, but ultimately something else is definitely hidden from him.

Combine all those with other things like God's Right Seat, things are about to become even more hectic.

Touma sighed, thinking he now have another thing he'll have to hide from that white nun Index – and the rest of the world. Having to hide his memory loss is bad enough, but having even more burdens piled on him just didn't seem fair.

As Kamijou Touma looked absently towards the horizon, then said one phrase like he always does, without much seriousness or truth in this statement, merely as a expression of his life – a life that he would not have it any other way:

"Fukou da."

-o-

-o-

[End Epilogue]

Well, that's it for this fic. After going through many moments of procrastination, this story has finally come to an end.

Thanks to everyone that bothered to leave a review as of the time of this writing, and thanks to some of the doujin music circles that makes remixes of Touhou music; they provided a fair bit of inspiration early on as I was writing this.

Oh, and here's a last OMAKE for everyone – think of it as a Alternate Universe sequel to this fic if you want, this idea struck me out of nowhere while I was writing (or just that I have forgotten where the heck I got the inspiration from ^.^; ) :

-o-

Two days after Kamijou Touma's return from Gensōkyō:

"Alright, everyone – quieten down please. Sensei have something to announce to everyone!"

It's another normal morning in Kamijou Touma's class – the noisiest class on this floor of the building, and especially rowdy when compared to Yomikawa-sensei's well-behaved class next door to them.

"We're having another transfer student into our class today - "

"Eeeeeh! Really?" The entire class instantly erupted into a furore.

"Sensei, didn't we just get Himegami a while back?" Fukiyose Seiri asked, trying to make herself heard in all of this commotion. "Surely it's not our turn again to get another transfer student?"

"Well, there are special circumstances…" Komoe-sensei blushed slightly and looked away, but not before the rest of the class caught their small teacher involuntarily glancing at Touma once.

"Damn it, it's Kamijou again?"

"Please say the transfer student this time is a guy…"

"Knowing how Kamijou's been doing recently, I wouldn't be surprised if even members of the same gender go after him now…"

"What's with this treatment? ! Just WHAT have I done recently to deserve this? !" Touma nearly screamed his response towards the rest of the class while Fukiyose merely looked at him frostily. That last time after he and Tsuchimikado came back from that incident his blonde friend seem to have been convinced somehow Touma now has a harem he has been hiding in secret, and in their 'argument' his friend nearly went serious enough to send him into the emergency ward. Touma didn't think he'd be on the receiving end of that particular brand of beatdown after that time during the Angel Fall incident.

And of course, rumours started to spread. What they entail probably shouldn't be imagined.

"Just so everyone knows, the transfer student this time is a girl." Komoe-sensei ignored the dark mumbles of the rest of the class commenting on just how typical this is. "And since everyone have guessed that she has some sort of connection with Kamijou-chan by now… well, it'll probably be faster to let her explain. You can come inside now." Komoe-sensei called out.

The one that stepped in made all the class' collective jaws drop, though for Touma and Tsuchimikado it's for entirely different reasons compared to the rest of the class.

Even in a standard school uniform, it isn't enough to dampen this person's beauty. She has long blonde hair and eyes slightly darker gold in colour. Her every step towards the blackboard is graceful, and it made it seem like there must be a mistake somehow. Someone like her should be attending some rich girls' school, instead of a normal co-ed school like theirs.

And of course, this person is already familiar to Touma, and to Tsuchimikado too but on a lesser extent.

"You…!" Touma exclaimed, but couldn't get any more words out as she started to introduce herself.

"My name is Yukamo Yukari," She began, "I'm seventeen, and I'm Kamijou Touma's girlfriend. Any questions?"

-o-

Stunned. Silence.

Himegami's eyes hold nothing but shock in them, and it's the same with Fukiyose's. Tsuchimikado is still trying to get his head around the fact that the person standing in front of them is the same person who attacked them at Hokkaido, thinking up plausible scenarios and reasons that could have lead to this outcome. Touma's jaw dropped even further than before, if it could be possible. The rest of the class is in varied states of surprise, and Komoe-sensei looked on trying to decide just how to snap everyone out of it.

"… Kami-yan." Aogami's voice was deathly quiet. "Guess what Tsuchimikado was saying before is wrong then, if you have a girlfriend."

"That's not the issue here…" Touma began to say, but his reply was drowned out by his blue-haired friend's roar:

"I would have eventually forgiven you for not letting us know about having finally completed that, but THIS? You have a girlfriend? !" Aogami's voice shook the entire building. "You traitor! You promised us the completion of the greatest fantasy a man can ask for, and you went and did the one thing that would effectively rule out that ever coming to past? ! A girlfriend? ! The chances of a harem happening now is gone forever!"

"Would you shut up for a moment here?" Touma ignored Aogami's ranting – he can explain later, but right now there's something more important to do.

"What the HELL are you doing here, or all places?" Touma angrily directed his question at Yukari.

"Is that really how you greet your childhood friend that you haven't seen for years, Touma-kun? I'm really disappointed at you." Yukari said with huge, teary eyes that suggest that he's the one in the wrong for even asking something like this; Touma's not buying this sham.

"You have got to be kidding me, I don't have a childhood friend-" Touma stopped mid-sentence. Thanks to his memory loss he can't know for certain that he doesn't have a childhood friend – just like how he didn't knew he had a cousin until he took a vacation to the beach that time with Angel Fall.

"- like you." Touma finished lamely, tried to make it seem like he was going to say that all along.

Fukiyose stood up, and walked deliberately up to Yukari.

"Let me get this straight," Fukiyose said slowly. "You're Kamijou Touma's 'girlfriend', and a childhood friend too."

"That's right." Yukari ignored Touma's strangled response at her words. He tried to say more but was tackled into the ground by Aogami who's furious.

"I seriosuly suggest you reconsider; that good-for-nothing guy tends to walk in at the worst moments, and if you stay close to him you might end up getting assaulted as one of his victims."

Fukiyose! Just what kind of scumbag do you take me for? ! Touma shouted in the background and tried to say more before Aogami headbutted him.

"You don't have to worry about that. I can perfectly take care of myself..." Yukari looked towards the impromptu brawl at the back nobody else is bothering to break up as they are all used to this – or still too shocked by Yukari's earlier words. "And if he tries anything on me… I'll make sure to pay him back ten times more and make him wish he never did." Yukari said in a tone of voice that left no doubt just what kind of 'payback' would be dealt out.

"…" Fukiyose gazed into Yukari's eyes, and finally nodded.

"I think we'll get along quite well then." Fukiyose smiled warmly. "Then congratulations on transferring into our class, and good luck on finally making those idiots behave."

"Oh don't worry… I'll make sure Kamijou Touma looks at no-one else except me from now on." Yukari returned her smile.

With that, the rest of the class cheered as one, except Aogami and Touma who is still trying to get a good hit onto each other, and Tsuchimikado who just sat there and others just attributed it to he was still in shock from Touma's 'betrayal' to his friends.

"Damn, I'm jealous that Kamijou got another hot girl after him…"
"Still, having him anchored to one hot girl is better than him getting every girl who isn't Fukiyose within a 2Km-radius…"
"Guess him getting all the girls from before was all for setting up this one final misfortune, huh… to give him a small taste of fortune which will make losing them all so much worse in comparison."
"Are you blind? With how Yukari-chan looks, if I'm in Kamijou's shoes I'd probably swap anyone else I'm seeing right now to stay with her…"

While their classmates chattered away Yukari took a seat next to Fukiyose's.

"Oh by the way, can I ask you something Fukiyose-san?" Yukari asked her with a smile.

"What is it, Yakumo-san?"

"You aren't one of the girls he's seeing right now, right?"

"Wha-! Of course not! With that kind of laid-back attitude and laziness, I'd go crazy before ending up liking him."

"But when he does get serious, he'd be a fairly a good catch right?"

"Maybe." Fukiyose allowed that. That idiot did once go all out in Daihaseisai's first event, after all. "But frankly, to me he's not worth the trouble."

"That's good to hear." Though Yukari's smile didn't change physically, Fukiyose swore she can feel the aura around her new classmate change to something dark and ominous.

"I'd hate to have to 'take care' of you the same way I would treat anyone else that he was close to in 'that' way. I probably will need to keep a good hold on him to prevent him… 'relapsing' from being loyal to me like how we were back then, and while doing that I'll need to eliminate the sources of the problem."

The class went quiet after that, and the two of the idiot trio who was fighting have finally exhausted themselves and called a temporary truce, then returned to their seats; just in time to hear the whispers start.

"Oh, daaaaamn… Kamijou got a yandere after him now?"
"Why are you surprised? He's been getting all sorts of girls so why not a yandere?"
"Hell, nobody deserves to be stuck with a yandere…"
"Not even him?"
"Not even him."
"Don't worry about it, chances are he'll somehow pull through of this alive."
"Wait, if that happens then we're back to how it is right now with him grabbing girls left and right…"
"… along with an additional member added to that list. Dammit."
"Should we start preparing for inevitable now?"
"Well I'm not going to mess with Aogami or Tsuchimikado that'll end up guarding him, are you going to?"

"You guys do realise she can hear everything you lot have just said right?" Touma snarked with a cross-popping vein on his head, and using all his control to keep his voice level. Aogami's eyes shined at the words 'yandere' and from how he smiled back at Touma, he has forgiven his black-haired comrade while thinking it's just another misunderstanding; the harem plan will go on.

The rest of the class took one look at Yukari's smile that's directed at them, and suddenly decided shutting up is their best course of action.

Touma's eyes went over to Yukari, as if saying silently 'You're enjoying yourself messing with everyone here aren't you?'.

Yukari's slight smile back towards him conveyed 'Naturally. You're not as dumb as you say you are'.

A small sigh from Touma. 'Please, just kill me now. Between what's going to happen with Index's reaction and what these two with me are going to do to me, I'd rather take a quick death at this rate.'

A shrug from Yukari. 'As if I'll make it that easy. I'll explain why I' m here later, but now I'm going to enjoy watching you squirm, darling.'

"Alright, alright… the two of you can catch up some other time." Komoe-sensei cut into what she thought was two lovebirds renewing their unspoken love for one another, while everyone else is either disgusted at the thought of Touma getting an member who's the 'Victorious Childhood Friend' into his harem or pitying him for having to handle a yandere. "Now, as for the upcoming cultural festival…"

-o-

Needless to say, what will follow these series of events are electrical storms, screams, fistfights, and other general happenings of misfortune. Sometimes with all of them happening at once.

But of course, that's another story.

[END]