In the streets of Kuoh, one girl with silver hair and crimson eyes walked with another girl with black hair and golden eyes.
"Its not that I don't want to be a magical girl anymore, it's just....."
"You are afraid."
Illya nodded hesitantly at Miyu's words.
After that fight at the river banks and the subsequent talks, she truly realized the scope of the conflict she had been dragged into by Ruby. A conflict that she chose to be a part of, if it meant being a magical girl like in her anime and manga.
But now, knowing the true scope of things and what was at stake, she did not know if she was upto the task anymore.
Not to mention the strange nightmares now haunting her every night.
Truthfully, if it were not for her personality and her desire to still be a magical girl, especially now that she knew her brother was also capable of magic, she would have quit a few days ago.
Miyu looked at Illya's conflicted look and did not know what to do.
If it were a few days ago, she had no doubt that she would have taken the responsibility of gathering the Class Cards on herself, especially since they were here because of her in the first place. Because her brother wished for her to find a world where she could be happy, which caused those cards to follow her across the dimensions.
But now, she was not so sure anymore. Not after this world's version of her brother gave her a rather serious talking to about pushing herself.
Not to mention how he seemed especially worried about her going after the secondary set for some reason.
As the girls continued walking, a Limo suddenly raced through the streets and stopped right beside them.
Before the girls could comprehend what was happening, the door opened, and two sets of hands pulled the girls into the car before it tore through the streets again.
Since it was still early in the morning, nobody was around to see this kidnapping, which was a good thing for the kidnappers since it would be really complicated to explain their motives later on when it was revealed that it was the two reckless teenagers known as Rin Tohsaka and Luvia Edelfelt who were responsible for this.
Within the car, Ruby and Sapphire immediately came out of the girls' backpacks, ready to blow up anyone stupid enough to kidnap their masters. However, they immediately calmed down when they saw who it was that nabbed the girls off the streets.
At least, Sapphire calmed down.
"Ruby punch!!"
As for Ruby, she immediately flew at Rin with full speed, but ended up getting caught in the girl's hand.
"Damned stick! Always causing trouble for me."
Rin gritted her teeth and applied reinforcement magic on her hand, squeezing the kaleidostick, which started to whine in pain.
Illya finally came to her senses and stared with a lost expression.
"Rin-san? Luvia-san? What is going on? When did you two get back?"
Luvia smiled at the girl.
"Just this morning. In fact, we just got off the plane a couple of hours ago."
Miyu looked at the older girls who were already wearing the Kuoh Academy uniform.
"You are going to school this early?"
Rin sighed at that question.
"Yeah. We have to. It is also the reason why we sought you two out this early in the morning."
"Huh?"
The teenagers stared at the girls with a serious look that sent chills down Illya and Miyu's spines.
"I will be blunt, Illya, Miyu. We have learned some...concerning..Information when we went back to the Grandmaster. Information that you two are not ready to know just yet, but has some serious implications."
Rin nodded at her rival's words.
"In simple terms, we need to retrieve the last two Class Cards as quickly as possible."
"....What happens after that?"
Rin smiled evilly at Ruby as the Kaleidostick started to sweat buckets despite not having a biological body.
"After that, the sticks are coming with us to deal with the secondary class cards."
"Hell no! I am not going with a hag-Gaaah!!"
Rin slammed the kaleidostick into her palm while gritting her teeth.
"Damned stick."
"Anyways..."
Luvia rolled her eyes and looked away from the squabble between her rival and the stick.
"As she said, we will help Shero with the secondary Class Cards after we are done with the primary ones."
Illya's eyes lit up with determination at those words, an expression that Miyu shared.
However, before the two could speak, Luvia raised her hand.
"I know what you will say, and we refuse it. We already put you two in enough danger till now. Especially that last fight."
Rin and Luvia shared a guilt-filled look and then glared at the Kaleidosticks.
"You were never supposed to be involved in all of this, which means that you two don't have the necessary training to handle the dangers of the secondary set based on what we saw last time."
"B-But-"
"Illya. Miyu"
Rin's calm voice stopped the girls from speaking again.
"This is not up for discussion. Once we get the last two cards, you two are done."
Then, the older teenagers gained warmth in their expressions as they saw the depressed look on the younger girls' faces.
"Don't misunderstand. We are not cutting off ties after the retrieval. In fact, Luvia and I have long since come to an agreement. After this whole debacle is over, we will be taking you two officially as our students in magic."
Luvia nodded her head in confirmation, causing the younger girls to look at the teenagers with a hopeful look.
Suddenly, Rin gained a gleam in her eyes as she looked at Illya.
"That being said, I don't want you to call me 'teacher' since that makes me sound old. Instead, you can call me Onee-chan. It should be good enough practice for the future....heheh-Geh!"
Luvia's fist met Rin's face as a vein throbbed on the blond girl's forehead.
"You are really good at exploiting any opportunity presented to you, eh? barbarian?"
"Damn you! Tube-Curls!!"
"Gorilla!"
"Bitch!"
Illya and Miyu could not help but sigh in exasperation as the two girls went back to their regular antics. However, the two girls still felt good. Knowing that it would not be a farewell once the class cards were retrieved.
However, for Illya, she still felt a bit of trepidation in the back of her mind. A lingering fear of the conflicts that were awaiting her in the near future.
Yet, this fear clashed with her determination to help her brother in any way she could.
It was with this swirling chaos in her mind that the girls finally reached their respective schools.
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Author Notes:
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