Aika opens her eyes and finds herself in a vacant park. Feeling slightly light-headed, she can feel things and see her surroundings but cannot move on her own accord. She finds herself picking up the dead branch of a hollowed tree nearby and started to poking some bushes. It's almost as if she was merely a spectator in her own body and witnessing things as they come and go.

Finding next to her, is a little girl wearing a squared pair of glasses.

“No luck here either…”

She then split up from Aika and started searching for flowers in the greener side of the park, with a blank expression on her face. A second glance at her own reflection in a puddle nearby reveals to Aika that she is a much younger version of herself. Possibly still in elementary school.

A few meters away from them, lies a man dozing off on a bench, his arms crossed. His face and body show no shape or form and was too far, leaving Aika unable to recognize the him. Despite that, the man looked very familiar to her for some reason…

"Ai, are you sure that you heard that correctly? I never heard nor seen growing around here until now…" The little girl came back and asks her with a monotonous voice.

The young Aika nods and says:

"Yeah! I heard from Aki-Nii! Both Father, Mama and ***** loves Lilies! He told me there are some growing somewhere around here! We just have to find them and surprise them with it, Set-Chan!"

(Ugh!)

The young Aika says while huffing and thumping on her chest. As the one merely spectating it all, Aika couldn’t make out one of the names in the conversation. All she can could hear every time the name is uttered was nothing but static, coupled with a sharp headache.

"Oh? Aren't we forgetting something? Such as catching crickets? Yozo-San’s favorite?"

"I-I have no idea what you are talking about…" The young Aika blushes while pretending to look the other way and whistling.

"Says the small girl trying to hide a bug net behind her back…Anyways, we should split up and hurry then. The forecast said it would be very windy and with heavy rain by the evening. I'm not very keen on the idea of dirtying myself with more mud than necessary.”

“Maybe we should have brought a coat or at least an umbrella…”

“Plus, I want to find it before ***** wakes up in order to gift him some. Since they represent devotion, perfectly describing my feelings for him. Heheheh...”

“Set-Chan, you are drooling again…” Aika states while swiping the corner of her friend’s mouth with a handkerchief and ignoring her mumbling. She was too entranced to even notice it.

“On second thought, maybe I should get carried away on purpose. Catching a cold and have ***** to nurse me isn’t a bad idea… Even better, maybe having ME nursing him instead…hehehe…”

The now not-so quiet girl stated with slight panting and salivating at the thought.

“You are really weird sometimes Set-Chan. One of us should go towards the lakeside area. Maybe they are some growing around there…”

Aika was unshaken by it. Growing somewhat used to it now. It took a while until Setsuna came back from cloud nine and agreed with her friend. They decide to split up in search of the flowers…

***

After nearly an hour had passed. Set-Chan was on the meeting spot, waiting for her friend to come back. Unfortunately, coming back empty-handed. Aika arrives shortly after her, hiding her hands behind her back.

"So? Any luck?"

"Well…" Aika gives a dismissive tone and Set-Chan gives a somewhat disappointed look herself.

"Oh. I see…"

But, Aika then shows a mischievous smile and presents what she was hiding behind her.

"Tada! Fooled the smart Set-Chan! I found some hiding behind the restricted area! I even caught some crickets down the river too! Heheh!" Aika bragged while huffing through her nose.

“Haha! Very funny, you doofus. But you should stop being so reckless and start thinking twice about things! I heard bears started to move into that area in recent years! Your parents would be pissed if something happened to you! Just like last time! Especially ****! We have no idea what he would do if he hears about this!”

“Hahaha…”

Set-Chan, now pouting, starts to pull Aika by the hair without saying another word. As she kept brushing it off by laughing and protecting the insect cage wrapped around her waist.

When suddenly…

"Kyah!"

A powerful gust of wind surprised the two and they fell on their butts. The flowers in Aika's hand scattered and were blow away by the strong winds.

"Oh no! The flowers!" Aika quickly stands up and runs after them.

"Ai! Wait! Kyah!" Set-Chan ran after her friend as heavy rain began to pour. But the sudden and loud rumbling of a thunder made her trip on her feet before catching up with Aika. Managing to create a bit of distance between the two.

That thundering sound shook the sleeping man awake. Finding the heavy and sudden rain hitting directly on his face. He started glancing around for the girls but did not d he did not found them anywhere nearby.

“Fuck! Ai-Chan?! Set-Chan?!” He immediately got up and started looking for them…

***

The winds suddenly halted and the flowers stopped from being dragged by the it for a moment and ended up landing at a crosswalk. Aika didn’t even hesitated as she took the opportunity to rush for it.

"Fweh! Safe! Hehehe…" Aika giggles as she feels the repressed exhaustion due to adrenaline hit all at once. She gets on her knees, picks up her flowers and relieved, she hugs them close to her chest. Her dress and body was completely drenched and dirty with mud from top to bottom. Alongside a few scratches here and there.

After a second strike of a thunder, even stronger than the first one. You could hear some screaming that was being deafened by it.

"YOU IDIOT! MOVE!" After rumbling had settled, Aika turned her head at the source and found Set-Chan yelling and waving at her across the other side. Aika smiles and waves back at her.

*Honk!*

"Eh?" Aika faced to the sudden loud sound in front of her and saw a pair of headlights nearing closer and closer…

"Tch!" Set-Chan clicks her tongue and rushes to her friend hoping to push her away from the vehicle or at least try and shield her from the impact.

The figure was now visible and Aika managed to identify that it was a sports car. Its driver tried to pull all the breaks but it was already too late to stop it. The floor was too slippery by the rain…

*Crash! *

The two closed their eyes and waited for their ends to come. Five seconds, ten, twenty. Almost an entire minute passed by and nothing had happened…

Aika slowly opened her eyes. Only to find Set-Chan enveloping Aika with her small arms. Her wide-open eyes moist with something other than rain, looking in front of her. Aika turned her face to what her friend was looking at and saw some kind of amorphous figure right in front of the them.

It stood between them and the car, who had suddenly stopped. Aika squinted her eyes and a fist could be seen colliding against it. It had sunk against the crashing car's hood. The figure's and his arm was finally able to be discerned by Aika.

It was completely bent backwards and bloody, full of cuts caused the metal of the car slashing through his arm. The two could still choke over the intense smell of blood, despite being mixed with the strong rain.

There were two red dots glowing for a brief moment on the figure's face before going back. He then rinses some of the blood off his arm with rainwater and ‘fixes’ it by twisting it back into place.

“!” He grunted painfully while doing so but tolerated it through sheer willpower.

"Are you girls alright?!" Completely ignoring his own pain, the man rushed to their side and embraced the two. The girls couldn't speak yet out of the fear they had felt.

“Uh!” They could only sniff their noses and nod at their savior.

***

Half an hour later, the figure is seen bowing repeatedly at the car driver apologizing and denying his offer to drive him to a hospital multiple times over the conversation.

After finally done speaking with him and leaving his contact information to the driver as he drove away. The man went towards the gas station nearby where he had dropped then sheltered the girls and went back to pick them up.

When he arrived, both girls explained what happened to him. They felt truly sorry for what they did and were looking down at the floor, unable to look him at the eye.

"Geez! You two better think before you act! You two never dare to do something like this again! I'm no longer young enough to keep pulling moves like the one I just did! You too Setsuna! I expected something this reckless of Ai-Chan but not you!"

He says that as he discreetly pulls the bandages on his left arm tighter. In order to try suppress a bit of the pain and hide the amount of cuts on his arm from the girls.

"Wuahh!" Set-Chan suddenly began to cry and Aika followed suit.

"Heh?! Why are the two of you crying now?"

He asks them concerned.

"I hurt ***** and made him hate me! I don't want that! Anything but that! Uahhh!!"

"Yea! We love *****!"

Seeing how truly sorry they felt for what they did. He could be seen giving a cocky smile and soothes the two by gently patting them on both their heads and play with their hair.

"Stupid! If I hated you two, I wouldn't literally have shoved myself in front of a running car and buried myself in debt by promising to fix the damn thing would I? I see you two as if you both were my precious daughters! So cheer up! I bought you two some candy!"

"Re-Really?! Promise you aren't lying?" Set-Chan asks with the cutest face she could muster as she slowly undoes the packaging of a popsicle and shove it into her mouth.

“Achoo!” Aika sneezes while holding back from crying any further and eating some candy.

"I promise! I would never lie to the two of you! At least not willingly…Now! Let's get you two back home shall we? Your parents are probably waiting for you two already and the weather doesn't look like it will get better anytime soon! Plus, the two of you should take a shower before you end up catching a cold” He takes off both his coat and the long sleeved shirt he was wearing and gave them to use it as cover.

“Yea!” The girls brighten up as they nod and are handed his clothing.

"Urgh!"

The moment Set-Chan stood up and literally started skipping out of happiness while walking, Aika soon followed after her. The man puts a hand over his arm, bit his lips and kneels down in pain. He got up immediately so that the two didn't noticed that he was still hurt and that there was still blood flowing out of his wounds and staining the bandages in red.

(Maybe I’ll get this checked out once I see them off. But first…)

After closing some of the distance, he reaches for Aika, pokes her over the shoulder and whispers.

"Listen, Ai-Chan? Could you… promise me something?"

"Yes! Everything for *****!" Aika innocently answers with a salute for some reason.

"Thanks! I will ask the same from Set-Chan later! So don’t feel like you are being left out. Could you please avoid telling your parents over what happened today okay?"

"Okay *****!"

"There's another thing…"

The man gets silent for a moment before the finding the resolve in what he wants to ask of her next and gripping his injured even arm harder.

"Could you two also…promise to never call me by that name again? Especially in front of your parents?”

"Eh?" Both the current Aika and the kid Aika felt the same confusion over what was asked.

The next moment, Aika felt her consciousness being forcefully dragged away from there and everything in her surroundings were blacked out. She couldn’t even breathe for a moment.

Once she regained control and finally able to move her body. She felt a cold rain hitting her face alongside something lukewarm mixed in it and slowly opened her eyes.

She saw a scenario very similar to what happened with that car accident she went through as a child right in front of her eyes.

However, many things were now much different.

For starters, Setsuna was now in her appropriate age and holding Aika close to her chest. Her eyes were wide-eye open in shock. Her already pale skin looking like it lost even more of its color.

“Ah…ah…” Setsuna was so mortified at whatever she was looking that she couldn’t even speak properly. The warm liquid that fell on Aika’s face was her friend’s tears.

Aika tried to turn her head and face towards whatever her friend was staring at. But, all she could see was the color red everywhere she looked. She realized there was incredibly long and very sharp object piercing through something that had stood in front of her and Setsuna. In fact, it had stopped inches away from hitting between Aika’s eyes. She gagged at the thick scent of blood and heavy rain started invading her nostrils...

“Aghm…ah…” Whatever was stuck between the sharp object and the girls was making a sound akin to moans and twitching lightly.

“ARGH!!!!” Setsuna regains her voice and releases out a loud shriek in response to what was in front of their sight.

Following her desperate shout, Aika finally noticed that whatever was on stuck on what stood between was not something but rather, someone…

The next moment, Aika couldn’t see anything anymore again and was hit with the biggest headache yet and closed her eyes once more.

Once she opened them again, she was floating in nothing but pitch black darkness far as the eye could see.

Swimming through that darkness for who knows how long. Aika finds something shining far away and dashed towards it. The moment her outstretched hand touched the light, it gradually expanded and Aika was blinded the light suddenly covering all of the darkness, finds some sort of warmth entering her body and after feeling comfortable embracing the very core of her soul. She regains her vision and finds…

"SPEEDO PARTY!!!" Many shouts echoed, followed by clapping and many instruments while a parade of Binks, pole dancing obscenely in front of her atop of a large stage.

Aika found herself and Nyamo sitting on a guest table and another yet Bink in the middle is announcing something on a podium and a mic on hand while a wearing a golden bodysuit.

"We would like to take a moment thank our sponsors and Ero-Sensei. Who helped us with the today’s choreography and supported us from the very beginning! Thank very much!”

Another wave of claps started and Golden Bink bowed at the audience.

“Huh?” Aika couldn’t even make head or tails of the situation and remained seated. Although very confused.

“Now then! The moment everyone was waiting for! The newest Magical Girl position, who is substituting the person that had a very high likelihood to become the next Valkyrie and goes none other than to the ‘Greatest Housewife of Mery City’! Akir-”

A hand from behind the curtain pokes Bink from behind and cuts him short of announcing. It started whispering something to him and traded the sealed letter on his hand for another.

“Really? No kidding? My apologies everyone! Seems like we had a misunderstanding with management! The winner and selected Magical is…The Little Pig that Could! Shinjirou Tsunaboshi!"

A spotlight flashes at Aika’s table and finds her fat teacher in a tuxedo sitting right next to her and he gets up and waves everyone while making his way towards the stage.

"Sensei! I love you! Marry me! Please let me bear your children!" Setsuna's voice could be heard drowned between huge cheers and clapping proceeds as the teacher shakes Bink's hand in solidarity, hands over the mic, clears his throat and began to do some sort of a speech.

"First, I would like to thank my Niece for giving me the honor of working with you all! Secondly! I promise to someday change all the uniforms from Arcadia into maid uniforms! Even if it kills me!”

Whistles and hurrahs started to stand out between his speech.

“Thank You! Lastly! By my friend’s own suggestion! All future Valkyries uniforms will start wearing nothing but a speedo or a bodysuit! I will lay my life down for this cause! Thank you all very much! I won't let you down!"

As Shinji courteously bowed before the crowd, more cheering erupted and Aika felt her head implode with the absurdity around her as she is nearly tearing her hair out and...

"Ah!" Aika gasps. Her dream was cut abruptly and fell off her bead. She can finally become able to move properly again and finds herself staring at the celling of her bedroom. Her eye shone green for a split second before going back to its original blue color and finding out that her back was drenched in cold sweat.

(What in the nine cycles of effing hell was that?! It felt like I was on the verge of remembering something very important but… There's absolutely no way I'm falling asleep again in order to find out what the hell that was. Whatever, I’m up now. Might as well start the damn day earlier…)

Aika thinks to herself as she starts her post-nightmarish day. Locking away the memories of her dreams inside the very depths of her heart and mind. She gets off her bed, only realizing now that she fell asleep while wearing her school uniform. She then hit the shower, put the uniform in the washing machine and changes into more casual clothes. Hoping that for at least today doesn’t end horribly as yesterday…