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Chapter Text

Alice Hiiragi heard once that poison dart frogs were colorful to deter predators. And then she heard men thought women who did the same were poisonous like the frogs. That afternoon she stole a box of hair dye and gave herself seafoam green hair.

And then she got kicked out of that foster home when they came home and saw her. She hid the stolen dresses deep in her suitcase as she got carted off. Again.

It was the same. She'd claim a tiny piece of herself and she'd get found out. Caught with makeup, time to go to a new home. Caught with a dress, time to go to a new home. Caught on a website with women she wanted to be, time to go to a new home.

But this time, there wasn't a home. There was however a scholarship for a private school. She wasn't sure how she got it, other than the easiest sob story in the world. Dead parents, never saw their son grow up.

She'd just have to show up to the dorm in a dress and convince them there was a mistake about the paperwork. That would work. It had to work. She wasn't going to put up with anything less. She only had to make it to New Year's before she wasn't obligated to go to school anymore. Eight months in a dorm. She could make it. Or she’d die trying.

-----

Alice yawned as she got off the bus at Iwatodai depot. She should have looked at the paperwork, she should have thought twice about how the scholarship people knew who she was. Lone survivor of the Moonlight Bridge incident, found after years of bouncing around the system.

It had to be an apology from Shiomi Solutions.

She couldn't get caught up in that fact now. It was eight months and she could wear a cute bow if she played her cards right. Or steal one if she played them the other kind of right. So many girls didn't want to keep their cute accessories and left them places.

She was most of the way to the dorm when the world shifted, the sea freezing in place, the bats freezing in midair. The entire world crystallized except her. A thrill and a fear stitched themselves into her heart. She could do anything right now. No one could stop her. Everything she'd been denied, it was at her disposal while this went on. But there was a chance it wouldn't stop and she'd be trapped in this still world forever. A stopped world was only useful when it started moving again.

It was tempting for being a chance to always be Alice. But who was going to see that and know that? Because the best part of getting to be Alice were those fleeting looks from others about who she was.

She yawned again, remembering the key to the dorm in her clutch. She could figure out her options after sleeping in a bed. Sleep was good. Bed was good. Petty theft had to wait.

She placed her hand on the dorm lock and pushed the key in, half expecting the tumblers to be stuck in place. They worked fine, the key tucked away without any difficulty. The door opened for her, the momentum carrying it away from her hand and then freezing in place. She tapped it and the door resumed its arcing swing while she maintained contact. "Neat."

A stack of papers sat on the dorm counter, a yellow sticky note with the last name Hiiragi hanging off them. Two sets of uniforms had been laid out, one for men and one for women. She hummed in approval as she tossed the stack of women's clothes onto her bag. And then the world snapped back into being, the door finishing its arcing opening.

The moment was cool while it lasted.

She worked her way through the paperwork, signing piece of paperwork after piece of paperwork. Last name after last name. When she finished the paperwork an auburn haired girl came down the stairs, stretching towards the ceiling. "Heya, you got here early. Or late? Eh, same difference. Hiiragi, right?"

"That's me! Alice Hiiragi." Alice pointed to her chin and the girl gave her a sleepy shrug as she waved up the stairs. "Are you the dorm monitor or something?"

"Kinda. We can talk about it in the morning Alice, after this girl gets some shut eye." The girl twisted her arms and that's when Alice noticed the gleaming handgun on her belt. She hoped that she'd never find out why the girl had it. "I'll show you to your room, you're across the hall from me. I'm Kotone, by the way. Kotone Shiomi."

I'm living with the heiress to Shiomi Solutions. How the hell did this happen?

Alice didn't think about it much longer as she fell into her bed and passed out. Tomorrow was a new day.

-----

The brown haired boy at the bottom of the stairs stared at her as she descended. He wasn't afraid of poisonous frogs and that couldn't stand. She smirked at him, "Feeling jealous?"

"Of someone who feels the need to dye their hair for attention? Hardly. This, is an honors dorm. Shiomi is here because of nepotism. Why are you here?" The boy snapped, pushing his wavy hair back with a comb. Alice shrugged and pushed past him. With a little hip bump to help move him out of the way. "Figures. A delinquent. Gekkoukan is going downhill."

"You just don't appreciate what colors work for me." Alice spun along the bottom banister on the way out. "And the name's Alice. If you're going to call me a delinquent at least get that part right."

"Don't start problems, Odagiri. She's only been here for one day." A woman in a perfect blue suit stood at the bottom of the stairs, her gray hair pinned in place. "Welcome to the dorm. I'm the Chairwoman of Gekkoukan, Mariko Hyoda. And you must be Alice Hiiragi?"

"I guess I was just loud enough to be heard by everyone, perfect. Thank you for having me, I'm so happy for the chance to learn in a prestigious environment like Gekkoukan." Alice smiled at the woman, her voice on the right side of saccharine suckup. "I should get going, I don't want to be late for school. Mustn't be late!"

"No, you shouldn't. One quick question and then Odagiri and Hasegawa can show you to Gekkoukan." The Chairwoman's voice was stern, a proctor demanding obedience. And while Alice loved bucking commands, this wasn't the time or moment. That could be later. After she learned what to get away with. "Did you arrive fine last night?"

"I did. Not a bit of trouble. I hope my sleepy signatures were legible!" Alice tightened the strap of her bag, inching her way towards the door and the jittery woman standing by it. "You must be Hasegawa."

"I'm Akane, looking forward to getting on the way to school." Akane's leg kept bouncing as Odagiri scowled his way towards them. "You really have to relax, Hidetoshi."

"I really don't and it's rich coming from you, Hasegawa. You can't sit still in any of your classes." Alice filed away the name Hidetoshi. All the better if she could be familiar with him later. Catch him off guard. "Alright, Hiiragi. Follow me. She's going to run off."

"I'll jog backwards, spoilsport." Akane pulled the door open and jogged backwards, asking Alice every question under the sun on their way to school. Hidetoshi kept his words to snide remarks.

Alice liked Akane. And she figured she would like annoying Hidetoshi.

-----

Time broke again at midnight. Alice wished she could time how long it was broken, but she didn't have a watch and she'd have to carry a clock the entire time to make it work. Which was a lot less fun than trying to figure out what she could get away with.

She slipped on a black dress, figuring it would stick out less if time resumed and she wasn't back yet. She tucked a long ago stolen switchblade into her knee high boot and slipped out of her room and stopped. Because Hidetoshi was was cutting across common area of the floor, a gun on his belt. "Hiiragi, what are you doing? Why are you dressed like that?"

"Why do you have a gun?" Alice pointed to the gleaming silver gun and Hidetoshi blushed. Got him on the backfoot. "There's something weird going on and you're walking around with an illegal weapon."

"That's irrelevant to my question, you know that." Hidetoshi's hand laid on the butt of the gun and Alice felt her heart race. That would be exciting, it would be new. Terrifying but new. And it'd probably get him kicked out of the dorm to draw a weapon on her. "So, what are you doing?"

"Peeing." Alice lied, pointing to the bathroom. "What are you doing?"

"Not urinating." Hidetoshi's face screwed itself up in confusion. His hand retreated from the gun and a part of Alice was disappointed. The sane part of her surged with relief that she didn't have to worry he was going to shoot her this moment. Alice inched towards the bathroom and Hidetoshi's face went red. "I will leave you to it."

"Cool. Thanks." Alice pushed the door open and darted into the stall. She cocked her ear towards the door as she in no uncertain terms did not take a piss.

"Shiomi, did you know she had potential?"
"No, I didn't. Chairwoman didn't have her on the list. She wasn't supposed to be at this dorm, but hey it worked out. Maybe she'll use an Evoker before you do."
"Very funny, Shiomi. She's a problem. Like Hasegawa."
"Hasegawa is, unlike you, currently tracking that big shadow. Get up to the command room, lazy bones."
"You are detestable, Shiomi."
"Shush! Let her go back to bed! If you’re too loud, she’ll figure something out."

Alice wasn't going back to bed, but she had a new form of mischief to get into. She let herself out of the bathroom, slipping up the stairs one by one. Maybe the boots were a bad choice for stealth. Maybe she didn't care, they were comfortable and looked good.

"Hey, so, this thing is really big. Like really, really big. I'm going to--" Akane's voice cut out, followed by the sound of breaking glass. "Ow. Okay. Bad plan."

"Stay put, Akane. Where's it going?" Kotone's voice had sharpened, all her jovial energy gone from trading barbs with Hidetoshi. "Screw it. I'm going down the fire escape and I'll just look. It wasn't that far from the dorm. Hidetoshi, grab Alice, get to the basement. It's reinforced and since she can move, she's in danger."

"Fine. I'll round up our new delinquent. What am I supposed to tell her?" Hidetoshi's voice was approaching and fast. Alice slid down the bannister, landing with a clunk back on her floor. She stretched towards the ceiling as Hidetoshi ran down the stairs, sweating. "There's a tornado coming. We have to get to the basement."

"Weird time of year, but sure." Alice shrugged, hating that she wasn't going to find out about the excitement tonight. Or what they meant by a large shadow or any of this. It wasn't fair that for the second night in a row of broken time she wasn't going to get to use it to its full potential.

The basement was nicer than she expected at least. A full couch. A television. A few windows near ground level for the building. Concrete reinforced walls. That was weird. Hidetoshi paced behind the couch while neither of them pointed out that the TV didn't work when Alice hit the power button on the remote.

Neither of them thought to say anything when a pile of black goop broke the window, pushing through suspended shards of broken glass. It extended two psuedopods towards Hidetoshi, the boy pulling out the gun and trying to aim it towards his head. His hand rattled back and forth and the psuedopod struck him in the chest, sending him flying into the couch.

Alice would have, if that had been a person who decked him, asked a lot of questions about Hidetoshi's strategy of standing still with a gun to his head. But as it was a strange slime monster, she opted for pulling the switchblade from her boot and flicking it out. The creature's psuedopods moved in clockwise than counter clockwise arcs. She pulled the gun closer with her boot.

"Brave mortal, to try and fight fate's weave."

Alice laced her fingers around the trigger while Hidetoshi groaned. Another psuedopod pushed through the window. She raised the gun as one of the psuedopods swung towards her.

"Have you considered that the best way to spite fate is to try and cut it shorter?"

"You know, that sounds like you want me to do this. Let's find out why. Should be fun." Alice didn't know why she had the time to say that, when more psuedopods wanted to pummel her. She didn't know why she pointed the gun at her own head. She didn't know why she pulled the trigger.

But she knew her other name. "Moirai!"

Where a bullet wound should have been instead rainbows of thread flew from the side of Alice's head. They ripped through the psuedopods, leaving nothing behind of the slime monsters. A head with three faces floated above Alice. A trio of disembodied hands flanked it, one with spool, one with scissors, one with needle. She felt euphoric, gazing upon her true self. She was powerful. She could fight for herself and anyone who said she wasn’t Alice, they could die. She could be free, now that the fates were on her side.

A third monster slipped in through the broken window, expanding outwards into a spiral of sickle shaped limbs with a mask labeled I at the vertex. The Moirai vibrated until they shattered, the pieces falling away around an oscillating androgynous figure made of clay and eggshells. A serpent wound their body, the scales glittering with a darkness that reflected Alice a thousand times over.

They darted towards the new monster, digging their fingers into it and pulling them apart. The figure dangled a piece of the monster above an ever growing mouth of the serpent.

Alice's body seized up with pain as the figure morphed back into the Moirai which then faded from view. She wanted to stay standing, to turn and ask the dazed Hidetoshi why she was so much cooler than him. But the way her whole bad felt like it was cracking, she couldn't even manage to remain standing. At least she didn't fall into the suspended glass as she passed out.

-----

She woke up in a hospital bed, Kotone sitting by her bedside. She had bags under her eyes. Aww, she really cares. "Morning. So. What was that?"

"Right out with it? I respect it. First up, I should double check you're with it. You've been out for a while." Kotone held up a finger moving it in a circle. Alice's eyes followed it as she huffed. Then Kotone started drawing more and more random images in the airs until she drew a dick which sent Alice into a giggle fit. "Good, perfect. Still funny."

And then Kotone explained Shadows, SEES and the Still Hour. What a persona was. The spiraling labrynth, Logos, that replaced Gekkoukan during that hour and how they wanted to explore it. And then an offer, "So, you want to keep fighting? Once you're better?"

"Yeah, someone has to help keep Hidetoshi humble about that Evoker thing." Alice smirked and Kotone matched her. "Glad we're on the same page."

"Oh, for sure. But he does kind of give a shit about you. He's been here most nights to keep your machines running. So, don't be too mean." Kotone's words slapped Alice across the face. No one had actually given that much of a shit about her. "There's a razor set aside for you."

"Couldn't get a magical girl transformation to keep me shaved. Bastards."

-----

"Welcome to the Velvet Room." A long nosed man peered at her from the center of a spotlight, a piece of paper in his hands. The piece of paper she signed at the dorm desk. "Only ones who have signed a contract, such as yourself, may enter here. 'I promise to take responsibility for my actions this year.'"

"You know, when I signed my dorm paperwork, I didn't expect this. But I guess that's what I get for signing it near that Still Hour or whatever." Alice yawned, a tick of annoyance settling into her chest. She had been asleep. After a long winded explanation from the Chairwoman about what Kotone had told her but much more boring, Alice wanted that sleep. And she had sold her soul. She guessed. "What is this about?"

"Introductions are in order, I know who you are and you don't know who I am. I am Igor. I'm here to help you on the Journey this year. But right now, it's easier if I borrow you from the world of dreams. This will be but a moment of your valuable time. You will make connections and bonds this year." Igor gestured around the spotlit area, where cardboard rabbits hung from the unseeable rafters in a sea of blue. There were twelve of them, all at regular intervals, each with a number. Except one that had been blacked out.

"Uh huh. Okay, sure dream guy. You've taken me to a new kind of Wonderland. It kind of sucks. Make friends. We'll see if they can put up with me." Alice shrugged, ignoring the little pain that accompanied every interaction with others. All the little disconnects that came with her claiming who she was. A younger girl walked into the spotlight, a heavy book that could only be called a tome in her hand. She wore all blue clothes with platinum hair dyed with black streaks. And yellow eyes that studied Alice without a hint of emotion. "And you?"

"I'm also here to help, as one who rules over power. I'm Lavenza. We'll talk more in the future." Lavenza held up her book and Alice found herself staring at her dorm room ceiling.

------

"Good night, Alice. We're not going into that tower until we have three people. Take care of yourself." The Chairwoman's smile was faker than eighty percent of Alice's own smiles. An attempt to placate her and nothing more. Which suited Alice fine.

When people are fake, you know they hate you. Not a single question about it.

She faked a yawn as she went into her room. She'd spent the afternoon when she was supposed to be studying, tying together her bedding. She was going to get out of here for the night and explore. No one was going to stop her. Not Hidetoshi. Not the Chairwoman. Not Akane, the poor girl had an injured leg. And certainly not anything else.

The Still Hour started, she grabbed the sheets and her room filled with clocks. They flew around her head in lazy spiral, reminding her of the shadow that her persona had transfigured to attack. She sighed, because why not at this point. Why wouldn't time itself show up to give her a middle finger to her plans.

"Time slows."

"Sure does at this time." Alice sat down on her bed, crossed her arms and sulked. "What do you want? What is with everyone bothering me every night that I'm awake?"

The clocks whirled around her, their hands spinning at different rates and speeds, minutes taking seconds and hours taking even less time. "They wish to borrow a moment of your time. Enough stolen moments and it all stops."

"It already stops, but okay. And you know that you're doing the same thing right now." Alice turned her nose up at the clocks. If sulking wouldn't get them gone maybe, just maybe, pouting would. "Can I have my time back now?"

"It is never your time. It is always someone's. Farewell." The clocks in one moment were there and the next not. Alice fed her rope out the window and the Still Hour, which had not been an hour at all in her opinion, ended.

"Mother fucker."

-----

"Sup." A boy half wearing his uniform and a blue baseball cap leaned on Alice's desk. His grin stretched his face wide, his hat tipped up to the light to highlight his eyes. "You're new, right? Want to be shown around?"

"What do you mean by shown around? Because usually when boys want to show me around, they want me to show them things." Alice pointed her pencil at him and tried to not laugh at the drip of sweat fleeing his hat. That could wait a few minutes longer.

"Hey, no need to be hostile about it! Just your ol' buddy Junpei who is not hitting on you, dude. Nope, not at all." Junpei's hands waved by his head, in his flailing missing Alice's sneer at the word dude. She had not spent the first day out of the hospital touring drug stores and liberating makeup to be called dude. "And it's not that you're not cute, but it is a little rude to hit on a girl her first day."

"And yet you never talk to the other boys on their first day." Hidetoshi pushed up to the desk, getting in Junpei's face. Alice would have enjoyed girls fighting over her, not boys. She opted to stare out the window instead. "Hiiragi, you know you're not supposed to have dyed hair."

"Get on Kotone's case about it. Not mine." Alice pulled her bag up, heading for the door. Junpei trailed after her, Hidetoshi stomping off in the other direction. "You like following me like a lost puppy Junpei?"

"Dude, that's not at all what's going on. Ugh, Hidetoshi making me look bad. I didn't even catch your name, because Hidetoshi's all last names only." Junpei adjusted his hat, walking backwards to look at Alice. "Plus, nice hair."

"Alice. And thanks for noticing. It's meant to scare boys off. It doesn't seem to work, but whatever." Alice crossed her arms, letting out a long sigh. Despite his dude remarks, he was being tolerable. "Alright, so what were you going to show me?"

"Well, I got some cash and I know the best ramen in Iwatodai. I tried them all. And this is a get to know you type of ramen, not a dating kind." Junpei raised his eyebrows, trying to impress something on Alice. She shrugged and let him lead on. "You're not gonna regret it!"

She was annoyed when she got back to the dorm and it was good. More annoyed when a little voice in her heart said he was the Magician.

Chapter Text

"Yeah, dude! I'm excited to be a hero." Junpei, the boy who on day one of class did not know he had barked up the wrong tree with Alice was now in the dorm lobby. Kotone grinned as she rubbed the back of head. "So, new girl, Hidetoshi, Akane and you?"

"Yeah, well, I'm not on active duty since someone has to work the communications equipment right now. And Akane's hurt still. So, it's you three." Kotone dragged Hidetoshi out of the corner, a scowl on his face. Alice looked at Kotone like she was crazy. "What's wrong?"

"This is our team? Hidetoshi got clobbered the first night I was here. You found Junpei at a Triple Seven." Alice shook her head, feeling a little spark of joy from Hidetoshi's scowl. She almost felt bad about Junpei's furrowed eyebrow. "You all didn't even mean to recruit me, I just rule."

"You..." Hidetoshi took a step forward that Alice matched. Junpei looked between them, toying with his baseball cap with one hand. "You're a problem, Hiiragi."

"Thanks for noticing, I do try." Alice smirked and she half expected Hidetoshi to throw a punch. His fists made it seem like he would. Kotone took a step between them, hands out. "Am I wrong about how we're recruiting here?"

"We're recruiting by who has potential. All of you have a damn persona, so stop being wet cats. Both of you." Kotone dropped her arms as she pulled a note out of her pocket. "I really don't know why the Chairwoman made this call, but Alice you're going to be in charge in the field."

"Really, her? After that? She just gave me and Hidetoshi shit. She doesn't even know what I can do and she declared me some sort of idiot." Junpei was, in Alice's mind, the kind of idiot who ignored everything she had done to scare men off. "Why is she field leader?"

"She has 'great potential.' Alice, while you're in charge of the moment to moment, you're responsible for everyone's safety. If I think you're not taking care of them, I will come up there and drag you down myself." Kotone locked eyes with Alice, her red eyes shining with rage. Alice smiled at her, giving a slight bow. Kotone relaxed, raising her fist in excitement. "See, it's going to be fine!"

-----

"Alright, let's see here. How to destroy you." Alice's heart raced, her mind filled with possibilities as the Shadow failed to hit her. She could freeze it, she could shock it, she could give it a quick stab. Hidetoshi's crossbow bolt took the dilemma away. "Hidetoshi, this is about training. And part of training is learning what I'm good at, isn't it?"

"You're a generalist. At best. And the longer we wait around for your morally okay sadism, the more threats there will be." Hidetoshi slotted a new bolt into his weapon. Alice wanted to slap him. Everyone here was rushing her all the time. "We're not here to play around."

"Maybe you're not. But fighting Shadows is fun. And I want to have fun for once, kill joy." Alice took a skipping motion down the hall, listening for more of the wiggling noises that Shadows made. Junpei started to stray down the hallway that they had explored. "Where are you going?"

"We know where the stairs are. I want to get to the top of this place, see the really strong stuff. Everything on this floor sucks to fight, dude." Junpei's word rankled Alice, she gave up being a dude a long time ago. She stomped over to him and grabbed his collar. He smiled for a half a moment until she lifted him up against the wall. "Hey, hey, hey, put me down!"

"Two things, Junpei. One, you will never call me dude. Ever again. Or I'll make your next experience like this a lot less fun than this one. Two, we will go to the next floor after we finish exploring this one. Or do you want to miss out on more ramen money?" Alice sneered and Junpei nodded. She pat the side of his face. "Good boy. Now then, let's keep exploring."

"You're terrifying." Junpei tugged his collar back into place once Alice dropped him on his ass. She gave him a lopsided smile as she helped him up with one hand. "You could have just said something."

Hidetoshi stared at the two of them for a moment, his eyes jumping to Alice's hair. At least he gets why I do this. Hidetoshi cleared his throat, his hands in his hair. "That's not leadership behavior, Hiiragi."

"I'm not sure you know how most leaders in the world act, Hidetoshi." Alice skipped down the hall, the two boys on her heels. "And, that wasn't about leadership. That was about making sure I'm always seen as me. Not someone I buried."

"Yeah. She's scary." Junpei muttered as Alice buried her switchblade in another shadow and combat began anew.

-----

"The Shadow is at the tanker fuel station." Kotone shook her head, clearing away the after effects of her sensing. She clutched her head for a moment as Akane took an uneasy step towards her. "Thanks, but I'm good. Promise."

"Have to make sure." Akane spared a glance towards Alice, a pained look on her face. "Well, we can't go. So you need to, right?"

"We do. For once, I'm in a hurry boys." Alice spun on her foot, heading for the doors. Hidetoshi grumbled while Junpei dragged the sheath of his sword along the floor. "Come on, I know you two wanted the night off but a big shadow should be lots of fun. You'll get to be a hero Junpei."

"Yeah, yeah!" Junpei perked up and Alice felt a pang of satisfaction as he followed her bait right down the stairs and out the door.

"You know he's like a child in a candy store." Hidetoshi shook his head as he rushed ahead, leaving Alice to have to catch up. "Why'd you do that?"

"Isn't being a leader all about motivating people?" Alice shouted back at him as she poured on speed to keep up. Hidetoshi grunted at her. "See, now he wants to get down there fast. And you want to follow him fast."

"And you're just running for fun?" Hidetoshi glared at her as they entered the bay area. Tonight's giant shadow was two overlaid spirals with eyeballs at the center and long, spindly arms that were operating a crane it had perched on. Junpei stared up the crane, holding his sword to the side. "What are you doing?"

"Figuring out a cool way to get up there to fight it. I don't want to use the ladder." Junpei flashed Alice a grin at his bravado as he ran underneath the crane as it swung towards a container ship docked in the bay.

"You dumbass! We need to stop it sooner, not try to look cool." Alice grumbled as she grabbed the ladder. Hidetoshi aimed his crossbow towards the shadow that had to be two hundred meters up. She called down to him from several rungs up. "Hidetoshi, how much gravity are you fighting there?"

"Shut up." Hidetoshi grumbled as he slung the crossbow across his back and started climbing. Junpei was climbing up the side of the ship. "What is that idiot doing?"

"I think he thinks he'll get laid, I dunno." Alice didn't have time to worry about him. She had to worry about the Shadow. The ship Junpei was on began to lift into the air, with a horrendous screech of metal stretching and concrete scraping metal. The boy waved from the deck. Alice was going to kill him if he lived. "Don't cry to me when you fall."

"Dude, I'm not going to--" Junpei began to slide as the boat tilted in the air. He scrambled for a railing, holding on as the crane rotated. "See, didn't fall!"

"And you didn't get close to the Shadow!" Alice called out as she pulled herself onto the platform leading to the crane's controls. "At least do something useful and try and burn it from there."

"Okay, but how, I'm hanging on for dear life!" Junpei shouted back, his fingers beginning to extend. Alice hated this. He couldn't listen, could he? Not like Hidetoshi had much more sense either. Alice grabbed the railing of the stairs and leaned out, Evoker to her head. "What are you doing?"

"Saving you Irori." Hidetoshi yelled as he kept running up the stairs. "Make it quick, Hiiragi."

"I'm still leader, asshole." Alice closed her eyes as she shattered the world. Moirai's threads wrapped around Junpei, dragging him over to her. He collapsed on the other side of the railing, a frown on his face. "Pay me back later, come on. Before--"

Alice's remark about Hidetoshi's fuck up was usurped by him yelling as the Shadow began chasing him down the stairs, his crossbow bolt sticking out of its eye.

"Yeah, I get it." Junpei put the Evoker to his head and fired. With three of them, the Shadow wasn't a threat, wind and fire and cursed thread more than enough to rip it apart.

The real threat was Kotone on the ground when they finally figured out how to put the ship back in the water. "What the hell is wrong with you three? Junpei, Hidetoshi why did you run off?"

"Yeah, it made everything a lot harder having to rescue your asses." Alice tucked her switchblade into her boot when Kotone wheeled towards her. "What?"

"You're the one leading, you need to stop pissing them off too. You gotta listen to them." Kotone poked Alice in the chest and if she hadn't just climbed up and down an entire crane she would have pushed the woman back. "You're strong, your multiple personas are useful, but you have to work with them."

Alice glanced to where Hidetoshi and Junpei weren't looking at her. She tapped her foot, trying to not yell. It was already a long month. And it was going to be a longer seven more at this rate. She let out a sigh. "Fine, I'll try. But they have to as well. Hidetoshi's gotta use my name, I put a lot of effort into picking it. And Junpei, you gotta cut all the dudes."

Hidetoshi's face tinged red at Alice's call out. He coughed into his hand, "Fine, Alice. Could you try to have more propriety and insult us less?"

"Yeah, the good boy thing's kinda... rude." Junpei took a step back and Alice hated that she felt bad. She hung her head for a moment. She wasn't supposed to care about others that much, she was supposed to have the power to exist and be her and not give a fuck about them. And here she was with a twinge of guilt sewing itself to her heart. "Yo, Alice. You gonna say something?"

"Just, thinking." Alice forced herself to look up at the two boys. She looked Junpei in the eye, first. "I'm sorry for being overly pushy and handsy with you. Usually I have to push boys away or they assume they can do things to me. I'll try not to assume that about you."

"Oh, yeah. The way you talked that day. Shit, sorry du-Alice." Junpei caught himself, staring at his shoes. Hidetoshi inched away. "What's wrong over there?"

"I don't know why I've been spared from this, it's almost like she doesn't think I'm a man." Hidetoshi's face had turned tomato red, tinges of it reaching his neck as he looked away from Alice. She blinked, considering. "Are you going to apologize to me too, get it over with."

"I didn't treat you like that cause you were making all sorts of other assumptions but go off. I want to call me Alice because Hiiragi is something my dead parents left me with." Alice turned away to start walking back to the dorm. "Alice is who I want to be. And I'm sorry for being a dick to you, but you didn't seem like you'd listen."

"Who you want to be." Hidetoshi muttered as the Still Hour ended and a suspended shipping contained slammed into the water, dousing them all in frozen water. Alice tried to not bitch about her clothes being close to see through with the water and the cold now. She also didn't want to complain about the fact her heart locked onto Hidetoshi as the Lovers. Whatever that meant.

-----

"Come on, Alice. If you want to deal with these monthly shadows you gotta know how to move." Akane shouted from the barricade leading to the road. Alice pulled herself up onto the metal bar, glad she wore tennis shoes for once. Pixie flitted to the front of her mind as she walked after Akane, the other teenager's arms out. "There you go. I'm so glad that my leg recovered from where that Magician Shadow got me."

"Yeah, you're like the right kind of relaxed compared to everyone else. Junpei's too concerned with looking cool. Hidetoshi wouldn't know relaxation if it sat in his lap." Alice picked up the pace as Akane repositioned, sliding down the railing on the other side. "And Kotone, I don't super get her. One moment, peppy. Then, y'know."

"She wants to relax! Having a company's future on your shoulders makes that hard." Akane yelled as she jumped off the railing and grabbed a tree branch, her legs scrabbling. Alice took a breath and tried to start her own slide down the railing. "Those shoes have way too much tread for that. Just run."

"Just run, okay." Alice rolled her eyes as she started running down the railing. Her body wanted to tilt, to fall, to pitch over. Pixie urged her arms in each direction to fight the equilibrium upsets her stupid big feet kept doing. "If she doesn't like the company weight, why keep it?"

"Cause, she doesn't hate the company. C'mon, jump." Akane motioned towards her and Alice took the leap of faith. Into the trunk, slamming herself into it before falling the ground. Nausea roiled through her from her bruised pelvis up through her body. Her head rang as Akane dropped down next to her. "Okay, aim better next time."

"Yeah, no kidding." Alice hadn't felt like she took a hit that bad from any Shadow yet. Most of them she sliced through the membrane and let Moirai clean up the rest. Her vision was blurred. "Think I got a concussion."

"Yeah, probably. Come on, I know someone nearby." Akane looped Alice's arm around her shoulders and despite being a good twenty centimeters shorter, lifted her up. It didn't take Akane a minute to knock on a door of a ground floor apartment, the windows covered in black curtains with gold thread. "She might be weird, but she's good."

"Sure." Alice didn't want to argue, she wanted something for the pounding in her head and the leftover shooting pains from the impact. A woman with long black hair opened the door, a black headband restraining it. A funeral veil covered the lower half of her face, the rest of her clothes a thick mourning kimono. A single red spider lily was tucked into a lock of hair.

Holy shit, she's gorgeous.

"Akane, you're trying to get me to come back by showing me the new girl?" The girl tilted her head, the veil revealing a frown despite the joking tone. Akane shook her head, pointing to the red mark on Alice's head. "Oh, yeah. Injuries, that makes sense. Come on in."

"Thanks. Alice here needs to look before she leaps." Akane helped Alice onto a ratty but comfortable couch. The woman's home she was in was decorated with an endless array of ludicrous and macabre tchotchkes. Spiders ridden by clown toys, pink plastic skulls filled with fairies painted in black, at least two puppets that were suspended from the ceiling. "Hi, didn't mean to impose Yukiko."

"You meant to visit though, didn't you?" Yukiko asked as she knelt down by Alice's head, a first aid kit in hand. "Hey there, I'm gonna feel up your wounds and try and fix them. That good?"

Yeah, you can feel me up.

"Don't steal my blood for any spells without asking." Alice joked instead of letting her horny thoughts fly. Yukiko giggled as she broke a chemical ice pack and placed it on the goose egg. She winced to a little sympathetic smile from Yukiko. Alice wanted to say more as Yukiko's cold fingers danced across her skin, finding cut after cut. Followed by the sudden sting of antiseptic. "Ow, you gotta use that stuff?"

"Pain means it's working." Akane and Yukiko spoke in unison as the other SEES member sat on the arm of the couch. She crossed her leg and leaned on her hand. "Oh, you should tell Alice you were part of SEES."

"Long time ago. Not anymore." Yukiko huffed as she moved Alice's hair out of the way with a tiny tug. She felt her cheeks heat up. "What were you all doing out here, be honest."

"Akane was trying to teach me free run--" A gasp broke Alice's concentration as Yukiko wiped a longer cut with alcohol. "Running. But it wasn't bad before."

Akane hummed in agreement, something passing between her and Yukiko in that moment and Alice, for the first time since Awakening, felt like she had lost every bit of control in the situation. Akane shifted, grabbing a tiny bottle of pain pills from the kit. She shook out the pills, her eyes crossed. "Why are there two kinds of pills in there."

"None of your business. I'll kick you out and keep her if you keep prying." Yukiko threatened Akane with Alice's good time. How is she cooler than me! I hate this! Also, this is just because of the concussion, right? Oh, I'm screwed. "Give her the pinkish red one."

"Sure." Akane plucked that one out, dropping it into Alice's mouth. The pill started falling apart on contact with her saliva, forcing her to swallow it and let it work its way down her throat. "So, can't ask how you're doing?"

"You can. I'm still working on art. Like I was last time you visited." Yukiko's voice didn't sound annoyed, her focus on tormenting Alice on accident. Alice thought it was accident as she felt along Alice's arm for bruises. "Alice, you're new in town, right? I think I'd recognize someone as colorful as you jumping around."

"Ye-yeah." Alice squirmed as Yukiko found a splinter. The woman gave her a pitying look from behind the veil as she pulled out tweezers. "This is going to hurt, isn't it."

"For sure. Yukiko, swap me. Let her hold your hand." Akane pat Alice on the shoulder and she felt embarrassed. Her! Embarrassed! She had chewed up almost every man in her life and one woman doing first aid had her broadcasting everything.

Yukiko's hand was rougher then Alice expected when their hands intertwined. She gave Alice a squeeze before Alice crushed her hand back as Akane ripped out the splinter. Akane held up the bloody piece of wood. "Good news, one more to go."

I'm going to kill her and hug her. At least whatever the Tower means, that's a reason to come see Yukiko again.

-----

"Hey, what the hell." Alice rubbed her forehead once Yukiko let them out. Akane giggled as they walked back towards the dorm. "What was that?"

"Okay, I was half trying to see Yukiko when we came out here. You wrecking yourself? Kind of a good reason beyond, 'hey, we were in the area.'" Akane put her hands on the back of her head, ignoring the real question on Alice's lips. She wanted to grab the girl and shake it out of her. She settled for giving Akane a shove. "Okay, okay, maybe I kinda figured you were gay. Maybe I kinda knew Yukiko is. Maybe, just maybe, I was hoping you'd catch her eye."

"And return to SEES with me?" Alice hummed in approval. It was a good plan. Plus, it was nice to know that all the embarrassing feelings of being in a crush had a chance. Akane looked away in embarrassment. "Hey, I am not mad at all. Now that I know you were trying to be a wingwoman. Selfish or not, kinda sweet of you."

"Thanks. I don't know if it really is that sweet." Akane's shrug spoke a volume. It was never about Alice in her mind. Whatever. "It's selfish to want Yukiko back, but she's my oldest friend. Kotone's too."

"And I didn't super factor into that. Right?" Alice looked straight ahead, her steps meandering away from Akane. Every few meters the distance grew. Akane bit her lip. "It's not new."

"Okay, maybe I should have considered more the positive for you. Kinda shitty of me." Akane took a loping step closer to Alice, her eyes ahead. "Probably shouldn't try to fish my friend back into my life with a lesbian."

"Nah, you should. Just should have told me first. I'd have worn better makeup." Alice's face lit up in flames, the admittance that even if she didn't work on Yukiko, it had worked the other way around. "You tell anyone I wasn't cool in front of her--"

"My silence to Junpei and Hidetoshi is that you don't tell Kotone I did this. Mutually assured destruction?" Akane leaned over, a conspiratorial grin on her face. Alice grinned back at her, elbowing her. "Cool. I don't wanna explain it to her. She's been all, 'Let Yukiko be. She'll figure it out. Trust.' And I dunno. Yukiko gets kinda stuck on things."

"Does she? I thought all her stuff was cool. Creative." Alice tugged on her skirt, even torn up it looked bland. Black. A little Gekkoukan emblem. Most of her dresses were one color too. No one watched those racks. And she'd been busy, and hadn't gone shopping with her Logos money anywhere nicer. "Meanwhile. Me. Boring."

Also I'm kind of scared about actually using a dressing room still. Someone's going to say something some day.

"Alice, you are not boring. You're the opposite of boring. You make all of us at the dorm look boring, sure you wear the uniform. But you modify it to be you. The hair works for you. You walk like you own everything. You even jump into a tree like it." Akane giggled and Alice flicked her in the arm. Akane's retort was to half trip Alice. The two of them giggled as they kicked and slapped at each other the whole way back. "I missed squabbling like this with someone."

"It's kinda cool to get to do it and be encouraged to do it." Alice let out a satisfied smile. It was a pretty good day in Iwatodai today. Pretty girl, a person she was allowed to hit, sun was shining.

"Well, you gotta enjoy fighting to do what we do. Even Hidetoshi has to. We'll find that stick in his ass and get it out one day." Akane snorted as Alice mimed the action. Her heart told her she got to know an Emperor too.

Chapter Text

"You're gonna love it." Junpei swore and every part of Alice told her to prepare for disappointment. It's not that Junpei had bad taste in outings to hang out, but it always wound up at his ramen shop. Without fail. Junpei stopped in front of a thrift shop. "I remember you were complaining about a bunch of your clothes not fitting anymore."

"Yeah. What, you taking me to get a bunch of hand me downs?" Alice raised one eyebrow, the way to tell Junpei she was kidding. He shook his head as he moved to the window, spreading his arms wide around a white device attached to a table. A sewing machine.

Alice placed her hand on the glass, her heart thundering in her chest. It was possibility in one device. She didn't have to rely on thrift stores or clothing shops or anything. She could look however she wanted. She could master her own destiny, take fate into her own hands.

Alice didn't know why Junpei had found this. She didn't know how he knew it would matter to her. She didn't know it would matter to her. But she spun and picked him up in a hug, "Thank you!"

"Think I prefer when you pick me up this way." Junpei laughed as Alice let him down. He readjusted his hat, a smile on his face. "I figure with your persona's schtick, maybe this would be right. And I think I kinda owe you for all the dudes I haven't caught."

"I'll forgive them." Alice turned back to the sewing machine, her hand trailing down the glass. Junpei looked towards the street, tapping his foot. "What's wrong?"

"Just, you don't look at much like that. Felt like I was intruding. Kinda always felt like that in life." Junpei admitted. Alice sighed, turning to sit on the little bit of stone supporting the window. She pat the stone next to her until Junpei joined her. "Hey, this was about you."

"Yeah, well. You know about me. Figure I should repay the favor or something." Alice crossed her arms, looking out towards the street. Junpei chuckled. "What?"

"Just, the whole act. Kinda funny, don't you think? If you really didn't care, you wouldn't ask. You also probably woulda let my dumb ass fall into the bay. Or like, not remembered what I used our money on." Junpei clapped Alice on the shoulder, not enough to hurt but enough to rub in that the fucker was right. "But, if you'll listen."

"Yes, yes I will. You just said I care, so do it before I stand up just to prove you wrong." Alice sighed but found herself smiling at the way Junpei crossed his leg to relax. To settle in and share this. People didn't do this with her before. "You good?"

"Yeah. Realizing all I really know about you is that you're kinda opposite me. Shoulda maybe figured that out, but I'm an idiot." Junpei laughed, pulling back the button on his shirt. Underneath he had on a tight grey sports bra. Alice whistled. "Thank you, thank you. But it makes it all awkward. You know? Like the baseball team doesn't know. I think the Chairwoman does? But you're the other one who does. And it makes it scary to be found out. But you, you kinda own the shit out of it."

"Thank you, thank you." Alice mimed taking a hat off her head, bowing to Junpei. She sat back up straight. "It's like ninety five percent authentic. Half the reason I steal clothes is because I don't want to have to deal with a hassle in the dressing room."

"Then even better I found that thing. I guess what I was going to say is that I wanted to mimick your bravery about the whole being you in public thing." Junpei grabbed his shoe, turning it back and forth. Alice tilted her head. "Sure, I've been Junpei, but I'm not telling people how Junpei got here. You kinda just look people in the face, say you're Alice and make them deal with it."

"Well, it's not like I really had a better choice. What you call bravery, I think I call necessity." Alice shrugged, sparing a glance at her watch and the closing time for the shop. She had time. "That's the thing. I think I'd have died without being Alice. I stole everything I couldn't buy to make sure of it."

"Well, pretty certain you don't have to steal anymore. If nothing else, I'll stand and look like your not threatening boyfriend while you get your stuff." Junpei's eyes widened in fear as Alice stared at him. "While still totally not being your boyfriend!"

"Damn right you aren't. But you're actually my friend. Just say that." Alice laughed, her hair shaking with her laughter. Junpei joined in a moment after. "Hah, weird to think about. You said you were my old buddy and I wanted to kill you. Now here we are."

"Just part of the Junpei charm. You find out that I'm only threatening to Shadows and I'm in. The friendship." Junpei pushed off the window, stretching out his limbs. "I got lost in all of that. I guess, I look up to your ability to push at a boundary in front of you. Shatter it."

"Well, I bet you can too. If your team ever gives you garbage, trio beatdown. I bet we can get Akane in on it." Alice punched her fist, the grin she had for Shadow slaying on her face. Junpei's smile was easy, relaxed. "Sound good?"

"Sounds pretty sweet, Alice."

-----

"We have found another person with the potential." The Chairwoman typed away on her keyboard, bringing up a black haired girl's ID picture. Alice was pretty certain she had seen the girl in the halls, slipping between the press of people as much as possible. Kinda creepy she has that. "Her name's Shiho Suzui. Akane, you have classes with her. We'd like you to approach her about the Still Hour."

"Sure. Shouldn't Alice or Kotone come too?" Akane yawned, leaning back in her chair with the help of Hidetoshi's chair in front of her.

"That would be a good idea. To help make clear that you aren't toying with her." The Chairwoman pointed a finger at Alice. "You're going, young woman."

"Yeah, I can do that." Alice tilted her head towards Kotone, the heiress balancing a pencil on her finger. "Do you wanna go?"

"Yeah, sure. I can do that." Kotone's hand snapped to the side, catching the pencil. "Hey, Mariko, any idea what kind of potential she's got? I'm kinda bored with running support."

"Unclear at this time. You'll have to find out on your own." The Chairwoman shot Kotone a glare, sending the heiress into a giggle fit. "Is there a problem?"

"Nothing, nothing. I'll come meet you two outside of class C." Kotone slid herself off the chair, heading straight for the door. Alice felt everyone else's eyes land on her. Right. Leadership or whatever. Ugh, this is actually a pain. Alice sent her chair into the corner and followed Kotone's stomping footsteps down the stairs. "Not now, Alice."

"Okay, but clearly something's wrong." Alice hopped the last few steps to the girl's floor, cutting off Kotone. The heiress made a fist at her. "Okay, you're mad mad. Why?"

"Oh, I don't know. Guess. You know everything, right?" Kotone cocked her hip to the side in a mockery of Alice. Her first instinct was to slap Kotone. Her second was to cock her hip twice as hard. She picked the path of petty nonviolence. For now. "Alice Hiiragi, the perfect persona user. Ignore that she doesn't know how to lead, that she only wanted the title to boss people around."

"Okay." Alice closed her eyes for a moment, working on how to say any of this without being a painful kind of honest. "Yeah, I probably suck at this in your opinion. You're not in the field and I don’t, like, get it. But I am. Is that it, you want to trade me? Cause I can't do any of your sensing stuff."

"Yes, I want to be in the field. You think I train for nothing?" Kotone grabbed a broom tucked into the corner, spinning it around herself and passing it hand to hand. She finished her flourish pointing the bristles at Alice's throat. Okay, noted. Kotone can kill me. Kinda hot. "So, yes. I want to be out there."

"Sure." Alice shrugged, pushing the broom's bristles down. Kotone's stance softened, the broom dropping back to the ground. "Like, you're already having trouble in Logos when we go up too high. Why don't we just bring you anyway. Makes five of us."

"What? But, that's going to hurt us. I can't sense and move at the same time. You'll stop and then we'll laze around until the Reaper shows up. That seems like a great way to get everyone killed..” Kotone’s eyebrows furrowed, her voice tense. “We’re stuck in this situation where you’re leading. I’m stuck not doing it.”

“And you missed the point of why I said to come with. I’m not asking you to sense.” Alice lifted the broom with her foot, looking Kotone in the eye. “I’m saying prove all that training matters more rich girl.”

Kotone’s furrowed brow shifted to a neutral confusion before a grin broke across her face. She shifted the broom back up, tapping Alice in the face. “Well, looks like you’re thinking.”

“To be on the safe side.” And to stay the leader. It’s a pain but I do like telling others what to do. “I’ll still lead so the Chairwoman blames me for this. Deal?”

“You’re just ready to take that bullet, huh?” Kotone swept the broom to the side, her hand tight to it. Alice mimed shooting herself in the head, to Kotone’s giggling. “Alright, Alice. Deal.”

Empress, huh? Neat.

-----

“What do you mean, she’s still not back.” Akane leaned across Morooka’s desk, her eyes burning to kill him. Alice wanted to help. It was the third day they had come by looking for Shiho. No one had seen her. Her parents didn’t answer any calls. It was like the whole world had decided to forget her.

Alice would have too if she didn’t have potential.

She didn’t like that she would never have noticed this without a reason to care.

“She’s been skipping. No excuse. No note. Nothing. It hasn’t changed in three days. If you care so much, go to her house.” Morooka scooped up his books, heading for the door. Kotone put her arm in front of him. “Miss Shiomi. Is there a problem?”

“Yes, there is. I’ll be sure to let the Chairwoman know that you’re an idiot who doesn’t care about his students.” Kotone spun on one foot, stomping off. Akane ran off after her, both of them on the verge of turning around to fight Morooka. The teacher, to his lack of care for Kotone’s threat, walked out the building.

Alice wasn’t going to let it go that easy. The guilt churning in her stomach wasn’t going to let him get away with it. She started after him, pulling the switchblade from her boot as she went. It was probably a bad idea to threaten a teacher. But it felt worse to risk someone’s safety when she had such a good way to get his attention.

She found him in the parking lot, loading himself into a dented up black sedan. Alice planted herself on the roof of his car. “Hi there, teach. I have some questions. They can’t wait.”

“They will, brat. I’m off the clock.” Morooka started his car, his hand slamming into the horn. Alice lowered her head to be at eye level with him, staring into what little black speck of his soul was left. “What are you, crazy? You’re going to die.”

“Quick question, then you can drive off in your small dick car.” Alice reached over and pushed in his sideview mirror. Morooka rolled down his window, reaching to fix it. Her hand snatched his wrist. “Who are Shiho Suzui’s friends?”

“That brat doesn’t have friends, she’s trash. I’m going to get you suspended!” Morooka yanked and Alice rolled off the car, landing on her feet as Morooka peeled out of the parking lot. Alice flipped him off, grabbing her switchblade off the ground. She tucked it into her boot and started walking. There was one part of town where people who were thought to be trash lived in Iwatodai. And it came with a bonus chance to see Yukiko. She helped with injuries, she might help with more. It’s not about SEES, it’s about someone missing and no one seeming to care.

Alice kept her weapon close as she glanced around at the other people walking around. Few of the people who glanced at her gave her a second. Of the two who gave her two looks, one gave her a thumbs up and the other scowled. She pointed the switchblade at the other, popping the blade into place and sending them scampering. Alice shrugged as she put away the blade and went right for Yukiko’s door and slapped her hand on it.

“Oh, Alice. What a surprise, business or did you hit another tree?” A faint smile peered past Yukiko’s veil, her eyes dancing over Alice. The Wildcard wiggled her hand. “What’s the business?”

“Uh, girl went missing and the teacher doesn’t care. Her parents don’t either. Pisses me off.” Alice looked over her shoulder at the cracked streets. “Teacher called her trash. And people hate here in town. Figured maybe she’s from around here?”

Yukiko slipped on shoes, taking a step out of her house. She blinked away the sudden change in light as she took in a breath. “Who are you looking for?”

“Besides you, girl in Akane’s class. Shiho Suzui. Black hair, kinda athletic but I don’t think she’s on a team.” Alice tried to keep her smile to a normal one at Yukiko stepping out into the light with her. The former SEES member tapped her elbow. “Got an idea?”

“Not a one. But, I’ll walk with you and take a look.” Yukiko started off, a clear expectation for Alice to follow. Which she found herself doing. “So, why me? Akane or Kotone could have done this too. Would have as well.”

“I think they’re trying to get a teacher fired.” Alice covered for herself as Yukiko gave her a dubious look. “Morooka sucks.”

“He does, he thinks he’s the king of Gekkoukan. But that doesn’t explain why you came to me. I bandage you that well?” Yukiko’s voice got sing songy and Alice wanted to expire right then. Her face flushed and Yukiko giggled. “Ah. Maybe not your best choice then. I’m not worth that.”

“Good news, I choose if you’re worth that to me.” Alice shot back as they entered an alley that had to have been designed for parents to be dead in. Yukiko pulled out a brick, writing a note and slipping it in. “That why you didn’t want Akane snooping?”

“Yes. You’re complicit now, don’t mess it up. But they might know something. There’s one family with a kid in this neighborhood.” Yukiko pointed to a ramshackle house, its door discolored and shingles missing. “If she lives here. It’s there. And, uh, give me your phone.”

“Need my number, huh?” Alice smirked at Yukiko, catching a ghost of a blush past the veil. Okay, good. I can get by whatever that problem is. Later. Yukiko dropped the phone back in Alice’s hand, walking off. “Later.”

“If you’re smart, never! But I get the feeling you’ll come by again.” Yukiko waved with one hand, disappearing up the street. Alice snorted at the little train emoji followed by a wall next to Yukiko’s name she had placed in her phone. Well, she’s lucky that disasters are fun. Alice shook her head, putting on her best scowl. She needed her game face on for talking to shithead parents. It was one thing to lie over the phone. It was a whole other thing to lie to Alice’s face.

She knocked, bouncing on her feet. She needed to be good and look innocent here. A wide smile, a higher voice. An annoyed man with black stubble on the verge of becoming a beard answered. “Don’t want any.”

“Oh! I’m not here to sell anything! I’m here to checkup on my classmate, Shiho. We haven’t seen her at school in a few days and I was just so worried about her.” Alice shook her head, to make it clear how terrible she felt about this. The presumed father of Shiho ran a hand through his greasy black hair, looking past Alice. “It’s just me. Is she home?”

“No. She isn’t. We told her if she went through with that asinine plan of her friends, she shouldn’t come back. And she didn’t.” The man shrugged, beginning to close the door. Alice shoved her foot in the way, a way to keep them talking. “You should be leaving now.”

“I don’t know about this plan. I was so worried about those other friends of hers. What were they going to do?” Alice kept her voice as saccharine as she could manage, the pitch tearing away at her throat. The inside of the Suzui home was sparse, barren. White walls, empty shelves, a bland brown couch and an empty pale blue vase. A stasis pod of a home.

“They were going to break into the school overnight. See if they could find a ghost. Stupid teenager shit. The kind of thing that gets you kicked out.” The man pushed on the door and Alice let him slam it in her face.

“Or it’s the kind of thing that gets you stuck in Logos.” Alice rubbed her head as she dialed the dorm. “Hey, Junpei? Can you round everyone up for a Logos trip tonight?”

-----

Of course we lost Akane, Junpei and Kotone. Of course I’m stuck with Hidetoshi. Alice grumbled as she ran down a twisting hallway of Logos. Hidetoshi was only a step behind her, reloading his crossbow. “I can’t believe we got separated from them, we were all together in the gym. Brilliant plan, by the way.”

“Hey, we figured out where she got stolen from. I think!” Alice shot back, her blade catching a shadow before it could rip her down. The bird inside didn’t get a chance to catch her, Hidetoshi’s shot evaporating it. “And, we definitely heard a scream that wasn’t those three.”

“Yes, okay. We might find Suzui. But we also might die. Did you consider this?” Hidetoshi’s Evoker flew to his head. “Heimarmene, we need to move!”

A woman of crumbling marble stuttered into existence next to Hidetoshi, four exact copies of herself behind her. A wind blew at Alice’s back as they rounded a corner, the Wildcard letting herself skid like she should have on the railing. A girl was running from a Shadow, her eyes full of fear and relief as she saw Alice. “You gotta run!”

“Sure do, but not the direction you think. Wet Blanket, give her a hand!” Alice fired her Evoker, Moirai’s threads weaving into a barrier behind the girl she was rescuing. The shadow slammed on it ineffectually as Shiho stumbled to the ground in front of Hidetoshi. His persona wrapped her in gentle winds to soothe any injuries. “Hey, so, you don’t happen to be Shiho Suzui, do you?”

“Y-yeah, I am.” Shiho rolled over on her back, closing her eyes. Alice pointed and Moirai’s threads burst outwards ripping apart the shadow. She mimed blowing smoke off her evoker after her persona faded. “Yep, still seeing things.”

“I guess the Chairwoman wasn’t lying about her potential.” Hidetoshi kneeled by Shiho, looking her over. “We’re here to help, but we think you could help us. You saw what Alice did, right?”

“Where she shot herself in the head and a ghost did stuff? Pretty sure this is the worst dream I ever had.” Shiho snorted as she opened her eyes. Alice held down her Evoker, looking towards the oncoming rush of Shadows. “You’re handing me a gun.”

“Tool, and not like in the weird American way. That will summon your own ghost. When you take hold, it’ll make sense.” Alice glanced down the hall, seeing another Shadow come. She dropped the Evoker onto Shiho’s chest, the girl grunting. “Hidetoshi, make sure she does it!”

“Screw it, this is a nightmare anyway. Pythia.” The Evoker shattered Shiho’s hopes of a peaceful life, as a bowl filled with sweet smelling brimstone appeared on her stomach. Alice sliced the Shadow, Hidetoshi’s persona creating a cyclone for space between Alice and what was inside. “Try ice! And… there are three humans the floor above us. And two big things on the bottom floor. Which is really far down.”

“Thanks, Suzui.” Hidetoshi sent a crossbow bolt into the shadow as Alice followed up Moirai with Forneus. “Remember, your choice after tonight is yours.”

Alice was overjoyed for Shiho and Kotone when the woman decided to move into the dorm after a short stay in the hospital. Shiho deserved a better place to stay. And now the Chairwoman could only yell at Alice for one night of not having a navigator. But she came out of it with Temperance on her lips.

Chapter Text

“And you think that snatching up a vulnerable Suzui is a good thing?” Hidetoshi’s eyes followed Alice’s fingers across the bottles of nail polish. She landed on a pastel blue that would scream color into any night. Part of her wanted to drop it into her purse, keep going and not pay. But she didn’t have an excuse anymore besides thrill for that. And not with Hidetoshi there to narc. Two weeks of suspension was enough of a pain. “Hiiragi.”

“Alice.” Alice held up a finger as she snagged topcoat, adding it to her little basket. She shook her head at him. “And I do. Her parents didn’t care she was missing. They can go die in a hole. Living with us is better.”

“And risking her life against Shadows is better?” Hidetoshi smoothed back his hair, gritting his teeth. Alice shrugged at him. “I know you have limited options but her grades are good. Shiomi could pay for her to have a dorm as an apology.”

“She wants to do something, hell, let her. And considering her ‘friends’ got her trapped there, least I can do is be her friend.” Alice lingered at the at home spa kits. They weren’t actually good. But, Shiho needed to feel welcome. Hidetoshi needed to fucking relax. She grabbed six. She could probably get Junpei to do one. Akane and Kotone were a harder sell. But, what else was she spending money on? “And then, she seems the type to think, ‘Oh, my friend is out there doing something. Why aren’t I?’ So, move her in, let her join. She doesn’t go on a guilt trip, we have a navigator who wants to do that and now Kotone can fight like she wants. Why are you hung up on this?”

“Because she was press ganged into this by you and Shiomi. That’s why.” Hidetoshi grabbed a water bottle, handing it to the cashier while Alice loaded her basket with more snacks. “And what happened to a quick trip anyway?”

“You want a long trip, I’ll show you a long trip.” Alice smiled at him, one eyebrow cocked as she started cashing out. The cashier looked between them and she huffed at him. “If you don’t like how I shop, why did you come with?”

“The entire conversation we just had. You don’t find any of what we do suspicious?” Hidetoshi took the offered bag from the cashier, staring into it. Yeah, okay. “Are you that oblivious to everything around you?”

“Sure, it’s suspicious. But I have money, I actually have friends and the amount of shit I’ve gotten for being Alice has dropped considerably. And, fighting Shadows is fun. Actual, factual fun.” Alice shoved a piece of pocky between her lips, holding out the pack to Hidetoshi. “I think you need to chill. When’s the last time you did something relaxing?”

“I do plenty that’s relaxing.” Hidetoshi took the pocky, because no one resists free sweets. No one. Alice shrugged at him as they pushed past a trio of people. One wasn’t wearing a shirt, his blue hair in awful knots that hung past his ears. His yellow eyes kept looking ahead, uncaring as Alice slipped by him. His companions were dressed the opposite. One was blonde, wearing a red puffy coat on with a cute pink toque to offset it. Her blue eyes would have been pretty if she didn’t look dead inside. Which was probably a side effect of wearing a coat in mid June. The other had on a leather jacket, a green sweater and jeans. She glared at Hidetoshi as he made his way around her. “Sorry. Be out of your way.”

“Better be.” The leather jacket girl snarled and Alice reached into her boot, pulling out her switchblade. The girl cracked her neck as the blue haired man held up his hand. “She was starting it, Sakuya.”

“They don’t matter.” Sakuya’s hand dropped and the leather jacket girl took a step back. The blonde girl tilted her head. “None of this is worth caring about. Come on.”

“Uh huh. You two can get a better boyfriend. Hell, you’d probably do better dating one another.” Alice took a step back in front of Hidetoshi as the blonde one laughed under her breath. “Don’t tell me, you’re in a polycule with him.”

“No, we’re not. But he is right, you all don’t matter.” The blonde one disappeared after her friends into the night. Alice looked back to see Hidetoshi staring at her with surprise.

“You pulled a knife on them. That was three against one. You could have gotten hurt. You could have gotten killed!” Hidetoshi snagged Alice’s elbow as she dropped the knife into her boot. “Don’t you care what happens to you?”

“Kinda. But she was going to start shit with you. So I was going to end it. And I figured if the other two did anything, you had my back.” Alice grumbled at her now half smashed pocky, tapping out debris into her hand. “Ugh, wasteful.”

“What do you mean kinda?” Hidetoshi whispered, standing close to Alice. I bet he’d look good with mascara, muss the hair a little bit. Get him looser. Alice shrugged at him. “Hiiragi, have you been leading us with a death wish?”

“Alice. Not a death wish. Just, you know shit happens. People get hurt and die. If I die Alice, then that’s fine.” Alice wasn’t going to tell him that she also wanted to make sure he had a chance to break down his barrier and figure out who he really was.

“Well. I appreciate that part of being Alice is that you’ll try to get in a stupid fight for me.” Hidetoshi gave her half a smile. And hey, he used her name. It was a good start after all.

What wasn’t a good start was that he didn’t take her gracious offer to give him a facial alongside Shiho. The new navigator had giggled at Alice’s joke, which was skyrocketing her SEES ranking. Shiho sorted out the snacks into a pile, “So, is this your usual welcome method?”

“Nah, girl. I didn’t get anything when I joined up.” Junpei joked as he set down a chair in the living room, a DVD in hand. Shiho cocked an eyebrow at him. “Someone got softer than she was. May not be a girl, but I do know a girl’s night when I see one.”

“We can make it gender inclusive night. You don’t have to take the facial though.” Alice stuck out her tongue to Junpei’s belly laugh. He flipped her off before flopping in the chair. “Just saying. I didn’t get a welcome like this either. I thought Hidetoshi was going to shoot me.”

“I still think he’s going to shoot me.” Shiho shivered for a moment before unpacking one of the kits. She laid it all out into a neat row. “So, who’s first?”

“You spent seven Still Hours in Logos without a break, you are.” Alice snatched the masking cream, hovering over Shiho. “So, what are you into?”

“Uh, sports. Technically?” Shiho held tight to the chair as Alice spread the cold goop over her face. Alice’s fingers worked it in with a light touch while Junpei started the movie. “I’d do volleyball, but the team’s full. So, I kinda just practice.”

“Dude, baseball sucks for that reason. I got lucky to get in this year and still don’t get to play on the field. What position?” Junpei let out an exhausted sigh, handing Alice the cucumbers to layer over Shiho’s eyes. The girl squirmed at Alice’s touch and a part of her wanted to indulge that, mess with Shiho a little. But Hidetoshi’s words about snatching Shiho up stilled Alice from teasing.

“Defensive specialist. Basically, anything that can happen on the backrow, I can do it. But, it’s not a typical position so I’m just seen as a substitute a lot of the time.” Shiho grumbled as Alice sealed off the mask. “Kinda dumb and frustrating. What do you do for baseball?”

“Kinda dumb, yeah. Outfield. Chasing around the biggest nonsense. No one ever thinks the outfielder’s important. But who’d be digging balls out of the grass if I weren’t there. The shortstop?” Junpei picked up the other kit, shaking it at Alice. “Field Leader’s turn?”

“Damn right. Didn’t know you were kind of a jock, Shiho.” Alice laid out on the couch, steeling herself. Everything had been freezing to her fingertips and her face was going to take it way worse. Shiho made a noncommittal noise from off to Alice’s right. “I mean, ugh, actually I’m gonna sound like a dick. My experience with sports players, before Junpei, was kinda shit. Dude at my last school used to call me a sissy. But always behind like two other guys.”

“I was about to ask why he wasn’t six feet under. Ehh, most sports teams are like seventy percent chill but the other thirty percent suck ass.” Junpei did not have Alice’s grace at applying the cream, slathering it across her. She followed behind him, creating a pile in her hand for him to cover the rest of her face in. “Pretty bad at this.”

“It’s okay, that’s why you’re a boy.” Shiho tossed off and Alice snorted. She could feel Junpei relax with the remark as he started on the other side of her face. “Maybe volleyball just attracts assholes. Boys and girls on the team are like that. I dunno.”

“Sounds like you need a new sport then. At least while you’re at Gekkoukan.” Alice yawned as Junpei sealed her away, the cucumbers soaking up her fatigue from staying up for way too many nights in Logos. Shiho grunted. “Or something else. You need better friends.”

“Ugh, they weren’t even my friends. They said they’d get me on the team proper if I stayed the night in the school. Hazing’s normal. But nope, didn’t even get in. Jerks.” Shiho yawned as the movie yammered on. Someone’s hand hit the floor.

Right before a surprise nap caught up to Alice, she realized Shiho was Temperance. Made sense for someone doing defense.

-----

Hidetoshi was red in the face the moment they pushed into the love hotel. Akane looked almost bewildered as she peeked into a room. “People pay for this kind of place?”

“People want to get release and they don’t want to admit it. Or I guess get caught cheating.” Alice rolled her neck. Another full moon, another set of big shadows. Another pain in the ass. Kotone snorted as she tapped her naginata against a weak shadow, sending it tumbling. “Kinda too easy for the small fry here.”

“I’m just feeling good that we’re not split up. Last time, that was a pain. Whole floor of things that shook off electricity and fire.” Kotone jumped back from the sluggish retort. “I want some action.”

“Of course you do, Shiomi. Of course you do.” Hidetoshi’s last remark before everyone was lost to the fog. Alice’s head swam. She was more comfortable. The most comfortable she’d been in years. It was fine.

She was lounging in bed, one hand under her head. She was going to finish her dress tomorrow. It had taken six weeks but it was going to be worth it. And her lover was going to join her soon, enjoy her the way she was supposed to. Once the girl got done shaving.

But why was she doing that now? Didn’t she have something else to do? Something important? Why wasn’t there water running? She had to shave.

“Hey, Alice.” Hidetoshi leaned on the door, shirt half undone. Wait, that idiot hasn’t figured it out. And needs to get on that, before this can happen. Also doesn’t call me Alice. HOW IS IT MORE ANNOYING THAT HIDETOSHI IS CALLING ME MY NAME!

“Hey, dumbass. I’m a lesbian.” Alice swung herself off the bed as Hidetoshi sputtered, going red in the face. Her switchblade and Evoker were laid out next to the bed, alongside Hidetoshi’s weapons. She tilted her head at him as she handed over his weapons. “Unless you have something to say.”

“Now is not the time for that.” Odagiri snatched the weapons from Alice’s hand. “There’s a Shadow to deal with.”

“Yeah. There is.” Alice reached out at the door, laying a hand on Odagiri. The fellow SEES member pushed her hand away. “After though, I’m usually pretty wired.”

-----

“I’m here.” Odagiri lingered by Alice’s door, leaving it cracked. She walked over, grabbed Odagiri’s wrist and pulled the teenager through the door. She set the tenuous waveform of gender down in a chair while kicking her door closed. The shadows, beyond causing widespread hallucinations, weren’t a threat and Alice felt like she was on cloud nine. Odagiri had become a ball, legs to chest, cheek to knees, arms around ankles. “I don’t know.”

“Yeah, well, probably normal. Not everyone does it like me.” Alice kept her voice low, gentle as she could. Something she never did. She kneeled on the floor, taking Hidetoshi’s hand. She had to peel it away one finger at a time. “So, this right here. It’s your hand. It’s a pretty hand.”

Odagiri’s face turned bright red, crimson flowing outward. A defense mechanism against her point. “And? Wouldn’t you say men can have pretty hands? What is the point of this?”

“I would. But do you want me to say this man’s hand is pretty? Or do you want me to say this is a pretty girl’s hand?” Alice placed her hand over Odagiri’s, their fingers lining up. The face contorted for a moment as Odagiri let out a sigh. “Well, which do you prefer?”

“I felt things about the last one. But what if that’s just a perversion?” Odagiri’s eyes watered, leaving a thin stream of shame on the face. Stubborn, stubborn, stubborn. “I’m gro—”

“Hold the fuck up. You’re not gross. If the thought of being a girl is so affecting you, that’s good for you. It’s exciting when it starts. Thrilling. The first time someone looked at Alice and said girl?” Alice let out a long breath as she pressed on Odagiri’s fingertips. “I was over the moon. I thought about it for days. I thought about it for things we’re not going to talk about. That’s how good it felt.”

“But, you’re many things but you’re not a pervert. I am.” Odagiri pulled the hand away, no force behind it. Alice kept the egg from fleeing. “Hii-- Alice. I should go to bed.”

“You being a pervert has nothing to do with wanting to be called a girl or dressing like one. That’s all the rest. And, some people are into that.” Alice winked at Odagiri as she pressed their palms together. “I want to point out, my hand and yours. Same size. Pretty hands. On two pretty girls. If you want that. Give me a name, it’s yours. Like Alice is mine.”

“You make it sound so easy. You make it seem like you just picked up one day and decided to be Alice. And it all fell into place. I can’t do that. I’m barely strong enough to be here!” Odagiri tried to pull away, but Alice didn’t let that happen. She wasn’t going to let Odagiri flee this. The cracks were there. “So, how can I do it when I’m so manly!”

“One bit at a time. You’re seeing me work at this for three years in secret. You’re seeing the result of teaching myself all of this. Makeup, nail polish, clothes, hair dye. And I didn’t have money, so I scrimped to buy some of it and the rest I stole. I did this the hard way. I decided I was Alice, but making her?” Alice ran a finger down her face, highlighting her hair, her eyes, her lips, her new home made choker. “That was me putting forth immense effort to claim myself. And then, getting in a shit ton of fights about it. It’s not easy, but it’s damn fucking well worth it. And if you do it? I’m gonna beat the shit out of anyone who tries to say otherwise.”

“That… that’s a lot.” Odagiri whispered. Each of the fingers touching Alice pulsed with motion, a silent count. “How do you do it?”

“One part at a time. Do you want to start?” Alice tilted her head to the row of nail polish on the desk. Odagiri nodded. “Do you have something you call yourself?”

“Not yet. Odagiri will do for now. I’d like to try black.”

-----

Alice glanced down her sunglasses at her new project. Odagiri had, after trying some makeup and getting fingernails painted decided being a girl was better. She was still a giant wet blanket, a binder full of notes in front of her at the beach. She hadn’t called Alice by family name in days. That was a start at least.

Alice’s phone rang, the Chairwoman’s name on screen. Alice groaned and flicked the phone up to her ear. “Can I help you?”

“Yes. Do you remember the tools we came to Yakushima for? One of them was a combat vehicle. It’s somewhere on the island. Find it.” The Chairwoman cut off the call, Odagiri’s phone lighting up next. Alice mouthed what the fuck as she stood up, grabbing her purse with Evoker.

“What do—” Odagiri grumbled before looking at Alice, her face darkened with annoyance. “Chairwoman? How do you lose that?”

“I don’t know. Go, grab Shiho. Maybe she can scan somewhere private. I’m going to start looking, I guess?” Alice shrugged as her phone buzzed with a picture of the trees in the forest nearby. There was one tree separate from the rest, a winding ivy vine around it. She didn’t notice Odagiri check her phone as she ran off to find Shiho. “I probably don’t have enough self preservation since I’m checking this.”

Alice walked through the forest, h er eyes scanning for the tree with the ivy around it. Or whatever a combat vehicle meant. Did the Chairwoman mean a tank? A rad motorcycle? A sword to float around on? The Chairwoman had said maybe thirty sentences all year, appearing and disappearing from the dorm almost as swift as could be.

Alice stopped in the forest, following a sunbeam down through the trees to a tree. It looked better in person, the ivy reflecting more of the light. Little bits of pollen looked like stars in the light when Alice tilted her head. On this side of the tree, there was a knothole sticking out.

And then a girl in a long white labcoat stepped out from behind the tree. Her hair rained down her back with the motion. She had on heart shaped headphones, the red clashing with the overall neutral look she had, including her expression. She walked over with stilted motions to Alice, extending a metallic hand. “The image made it easier to find you, Prime Directive.”

Alice froze as the woman bowed at the waist, almost ninety degrees. She looked over her shoulder, realizing there wasn’t anyone there. There wasn’t a camera crew either. “Okay, hold up, how did you get my phone number?”

“That is easy. I scanned Shiomi Solutions records, found your number and sent you the image. We need to improve our cybersecurity.” The woman raised to her full height, taking a step closer and then hugging Alice, lifting her in the air. “I am securing you for your safety, do not resist.”

“Look, while you’re cute, put me down!” Alice yelled slapping the woman on the face. She didn’t react but all of the pain nerves in Alice’s hands did, screaming that she slapped metal. “What the hell?”

“Oh, you were not informed. I am Anti Shadow Suppression Weapon, codename Kuon. I activated and my tracking said to find Prime Directive. Current designation: Alice Hiiragi.” Kuon did not put Alice down. Alice squirmed against her and if it had been a different situation where she said yes this would have been fun, but that wasn’t what was happening. “What is wrong? Your face indicates distress.”

“I want down! If I’m your Prime Directive, then you need to let me stand on the ground!” Alice yelled, stopping herself from using the other hand to slap Kuon. That path only led to more pain. Kuon tilted her head and released Alice, sending her to forest floor. “Okay, Kuon. Rule one, only touch me if I tell you to. Got it?”

“I understand. All physical contact will be limited unless you request it.” Kuon stood in place her head swiveling to monitor. Alice pulled herself to her feet, looking over the robot woman. Now that she was closer, she could see that the hips hidden in the lab coat were also metal with a large gap between the joint and the actual leg. What might have been a blue shirt underneath was more akin to a decal on Kuon. “Why are you inspecting me?”

“Figuring out your deal. Alright, so, you don’t happen to be what the Chairwoman called a combat vehicle. Do you?” Alice scraped away the dirt on her uninjured hand as Kuon nodded. “Okay, that’s one problem solved. When I’m your Prime Directive, what does that mean?”

“I am to keep you safe. All threats to your safety will be eliminated. I will follow all orders you give me.” Kuon didn’t move at all while explaining. Alice expected all the little micromovements of a human. No finger movements, no rise and fall of the chest, nothing. Kuon could be a statue, whenever she wanted. “You will not stop being my Prime Directive.”

“Okay, that’s a lot but I appreciate the energy. What other directives do you have?” Alice walked around Kuon, catching all the other little non human parts of her. The line around the neck that the joints had to work around. The splits in the fingers, almost imperceptible. The port underneath her wrist, a hole the size of Alice’s thumb.

“My next directive is to follow the direction of Chairwoman Mariko Hyoda. Then the current head of Shiomi Solutions. Prime Directive was updated at activation this morning.” Kuon supplied everything Alice wanted to know. Alice felt a shiver at the thought of having people giving Kuon full directions. From her ability to speak alone, she had to have conscious thought. “Alice, you are frowning again.”

“I have a side order, so long as I’m your Prime Directive. You will offer your opinions. You will question orders you don’t understand. And…” Alice tapped her chin, trying to word it best. “You will not suppress who you are. I want you being as Kuon as possible. Not what anybody tells you to be.”

“I understand. My behavior currently is Kuon. Despite the shape of my auditory sensors, I do not have what humans refer to as a heart.” Kuon tapped her headphones and Alice shook her head. There was a little bit of something coming through. Kuon wouldn’t have picked her up in a way like a hug if there wasn’t emotion there. “Are there other questions?”

“You can act in the Still Hour, right? Do you have a persona?” Alice motioned for Kuon to follow as she walked. Her new companion followed, one step behind. It was a frustrating amount of closeness. If Kuon breathed, it’d be down Alice’s neck. Instead, a presence loomed right behind Alice. She felt haunted by Kuon. “Walk beside me, not behind me. Being in my blind spot is unsettling, got it?”

“I understand. I can act in the Still Hour. I have a persona. I will move my half meter distance to your right. Is this acceptable?” Kuon took one step, further than a human should be capable of with her hip placement. Alice sighed. “Is this not acceptable?”

“Your distance needs work.” Alice sighed, she didn’t know if Kuon was playing dumb or did not know better. She knew how to string sentences together, her vocabulary was strong, she had accessed Alice’s phone. But she didn’t know distances to keep Alice comfortable. And despite Alice’s clear statement of needing space, Kuon was right by her side. “Take two. When we’re walking somewhere, like right now, give me some more space.”

“I understand, giving you distance.” Kuon took a step to the right, enough that if Alice reached out she could touch Kuon. But not so far her elbow had to jostle around the robot. “Is this good?”

“This is normal, yes. I didn’t even know AI was this advanced. Or existed outside of science fiction.” Alice waved as she saw Akane blitzing by, her face red with exertion. “Akane, problem solved!”

“Problem solved?” Akane skidded to a stop, using a tree to redirect her moment. She looked at Kuon then Alice. “Who’s she?”

“Combat vehicle.” Alice shrugged as Akane’s jaw dropped in surprise. “I’m not joking either. She’s a robot. Kinda needs to work on being intrusive.”

“I’m going to need to sit down.” Akane leaned on the tree, sucking in a big breath. “Robot?”

“Robot.” Alice grabbed the sides of her lab coat and pulled. Akane covered her face while Alice laughed. Without the draping piece of clothing it was obvious that Kuon wasn’t a human like them. But Alice caught a ghost of a smile on Kuon’s face at Akane’s red faced embarrassment. “While I am nude underneath, it will not be titillating.”

“Okay, I just didn’t expect you to do that! I didn’t know what you had there. It could have been, you know. People’s stuff!” Akane’s hands flailed around her head in a storm of flusters. “Wait, you’re a combat vehicle?”

“It is the best classification that Shiomi Solutions has for an android with on hand weaponry.” Kuon held up her hand, the fingers splitting open to reveal serrated blades attached to spools within. The spools spun, dangling the spinning blades on a wire. She has battle yo yos. Okay. That’s cool. Akane pointed to them, her jaw agape. “These are my non persona weaponry. Each of my fingers has them.”

“Do we need a license to have her around?” Akane glanced over her shoulder at the approaching Kotone. “How are we going to explain this?”

“The way we just did.” Alice and Kuon spoke in unison and Alice had to lean on the edge of the forest for support.

-----

“And that recording is how the Still Hour began. The explosion in the Shadow lab broke time.” The Chairwoman’s eyes lasered onto Odagiri, the woman squirming in her seat. Alice made a fist, one hand on the back of her chair. “The actions of Akari Odagiri led to this.”

“Lies.” Odagiri’s chair crashed to the floor, feet pounding their way up the stairs. Alice was hot on her heels, Kuon a step behind from her sentry point at the wall. Alice’s gut churned as she followed the girl out of the basement and out the side door towards the sea. The Still Hour was coming soon, but Odagiri’s feet carried her further from the others. She looked over her shoulder. “Alice. I don’t want you here. And I certainly don’t want your pet android here.”

“One of us is non negotiable right now!” Alice shouted, forcing herself to run faster. All the months of chasing shadows in Logos was beginning to pay off. She grabbed Odagiri’s arm, making the girl stop. Kuon turned to face the mansion, her blades out as the Still Hour settled into place. “You might want to be alone, but you shouldn’t be. Kuon can keep us safe because I didn’t exactly carry an Evoker right now.”

“I will not abandon Alice or another member of SEES to danger. It would violate my Prime and other directives.” Kuon did not turn, her voice loud enough to be heard regardless of direction. Odagiri grumbled but didn’t try to move again.

“Kuon, can you just… not listen? Is that something you can do?” Alice asked and before she knew it, Kuon used one hand to remove her ‘headphones,’ leaving exposed wiring. “Okay, that works. Hidetoshi, look, you trusted me with the whole girl thing. What’s one more?”

“If you told me that I’d be baring my soul to you last month, I would have demanded you be drug tested. Instead, here I am considering this.” Odagiri tapped Alice’s wrist, earning her release. Kuon’s saw blades revved for a moment. “Terrifying.”

“I think it’s sweet that she’s so protective. Gotta work a little on thinking for herself though.” Alice took a step back, crossing her arms. “You’re delaying and it’s not subtle. Like at all.”

“I know, damn it. Anybody ever tell you that you’re too observant?” Odagiri paced back and forth, tapping her arms over and over again. “Okay, I know my mom worked for Shiomi Solutions. She sent me a letter that was held until I turned eighteen. In it, she said that if she died, it was their fault. And that she had tried to stop them.”

“Okay, no wonder you don’t trust Kotone. Or the Chairwoman. With Kuon, her Prime Directive is to guard me and listen to me. So, we just make sure she doesn’t tell.” Alice took a step closer, her hand out. Odagiri stared at her hands instead of Alice’s outstretched one. “We don’t know the truth, but we can work on it together. Can’t we?”

“I don’t know if I want you working on it, but not out of disrespect. I’m burdening you enough. I’ll find out what I set out to find out. And warn you if I find danger.” Odagiri took a step closer and let Alice sweep her into a hug. She leaned her cheek on Alice’s shoulder, body wracking with a sob. “I’ve admitted I’m a girl for three days and cried twice.”

“Well, you know, you let one wall down or something. Crossing the boundary the first time is hard, I guess?” Alice hoped she was being reassuring. The poor girl was a messed up jumble of every emotion. “How about if you get in over your head, you let me bail you out. I’m so good at being in trouble.”

“You are. You’re a damn menace.” Odagiri joked as the girls broke off the hug. She looked to the sea for a moment. She bit her lip, running her hands around her hair until it was a mess going every direction. “I think… I think for now, I’d like to try Akari.”

“Alright, Akari. Let’s get back in there before something happens.” Alice pat her friend on the head, watching her go red. She laughed the whole way back about it while Kuon reattached her hearing.

Chapter Text

"Alright, let's see if this fits." Alice made a spinning motion and Kuon stood still. She sighed. "We're going to have to work on hand signals like that. That means you're supposed to turn around and not look. Until I tell you to."

"I do not understand. There is no reason for you to be ashamed of what you look like in front of me." Kuon's voice was a little higher, a little tinnier than normal. Alice groaned and put a hand on Kuon's shoulder, guiding her to spin around. "I will follow this request. But please explain."

"Good, you want reasoning. Because, dear Kuon, seeing me naked is something that should be special!" Alice tittered as she threw her uniform to the side. She admired the now finished dress, dangling from the hanger. Big shoulders, big skirt, something to let her take up her space. Pastel blue stripes alternated with stripes of white fabric with running rabbits on them. Alice slid into it, spinning around in the mirror. She was comfortable, she looked great, it was perfect. "Now you can look."

Kuon turned around, her lips with the barest amount of an upturn to them. Alice always thought it was adorable when she got one of these. Kuon scanned over Alice. "It appears to fit well. Why is this something important to you?"

"Well, Kuon. I have spent so much time and effort figuring out me. But until recently, I had to rely on other people making clothes that are me." Alice tugged on the hem of the dress, making sure that it didn't rip or work against itself. "And this is the start of me having control over one more part of my life."

"Control of your life. I see. That is what matters to you." Kuon looked her hands, unspooling her saw blades for a moment. They collapsed back into her hand. "You want control of your life and yet you give me orders. Is that control of your life?"

"That... that..." Alice didn't know how to respond as Kuon followed her. She felt a flame of embarrassment in her gut as the two of them hit the streets of Iwatodai, making their way towards the monorail. "I tell you what to do, because you seem to want that?"

"I am programmed to take direction. But you do not perceive me as a pure machine. But you give me orders." Kuon's voice slowed down, more mechanical. And in some way, Alice thought the android was more real for it. She bit her lip, her body on fire with shame. "It is not bad that you give me orders, but it seems that a paradox would hurt you."

"I try to encourage you to make choices for yourself. I like when you question me. And... if you ever wanted to make choices for yourself, I would support that?" Alice glanced back at Kuon, the android's footsteps slowed. She tried to not listen to the ticking sound of the word Aeon, but instead focus on Kuon here. "Okay, maybe I'm a hypocrite? I was kinda really controlling with Akari and Junpei early on. But I apologized and I try to only give combat orders to them."

"I know this. You give me more orders. A high percentage of them are related to trying to make me behave more human." Kuon informed as Alice paused, hands to her own chest. "I am more akin to a doll than a human. I am meant to function, not to interact."

"Okay, who cares why you were made Kuon. I care that you're you. I wasn't made Alice, but I became her. Okay?" Alice wanted to shake Kuon. She knew Kuon would let her do that. And that made her feel worse about the desire. "You interact anyway! You wind up doing it. And a lot of the time, it's charming! I like it! But other times you get like this and it frustrates me, because I can feel you under there but you bury it."

"You are seeing things that are not there Alice. It is good that I am charming, that makes my Prime Directive easier to follow." Kuon resumed walking, forcing Alice to start moving again. "If you enjoy your time with me, that is a positive outcome."

"Well, yes, but not for that reason. I like spending time with you Kuon, for reasons unrelated to your desire to keep me safe." Alice knew she was beating on a wall. She couldn't keep that up and have it work. She needed to let Kuon breathe, but it was hard. Kuon was human, just, different about it. "Look, another day. This is a request, not an order, you do not have to follow it. Don't call yourself a doll like that. I think you're more than that. Dolls get left behind. And I won't do that to you."

"Dolls get left behind." Kuon was silent after that, the two of them loading themselves onto the monorail. Alice made a face at a classmate glaring at her until he turned around to face the front. She smirked at Kuon, holding up a V for victory in the process.

Alice skipped off the monorail, reasserting her joy at the clothes she had on. She couldn't dwell on the fact that Kuon took time to make progress. She looked good! People were looking at the two of them, some of them were smiling. Alice tapped her chin, catching sight of Kuon as she looked into a shop. The labcoat look worked for her. The slim build and strong silhouette. Sure, it was practical. But it looked good still.

That's a goal, get Kuon to decide on clothes for me to make her. So the two of us can look good together. Well, better together. We already look good.

"Alice, it appears one of our teammates is also here." Kuon tilted her head towards where Shiho sat on the edge of a planter, next to the blonde girl wearing a high fashion winter coat in July. "Should we say hi?"

"Absolutely. After we give them some time. Let's see, takoyaki, maybe some sweets. That should give those two enough time, maybe eavesdrop a little." Alice skipped off to the takoyaki stand, one ear cocked towards the two girls. Kuon's footsteps were quieter than expected as she followed Alice.

"Look! I'm just saying if you want to take photos, you have to spend more time on them." Shiho laughed as the blond girl gave her a push. "You had maybe something there, but you rushed it."

"Hey, I don't see you taking pictures. Just coming up and getting on my case. Why would you even care about a stranger's picture taking." The girl shivered, her face as impassive as ever Alice noted. Her blue eyes held only the barest flicker of life, almost like marbles painted blue.

"Do you ever see something that you have to fix? Like someone buttons their shirt wrong?" Shiho explained, mirth in her voice. And while the other girl didn't match that energy, she wasn't pushing Shiho away. Go girl, get it. The other girl nodded after a few more seconds, realizing what Shiho wanted. "It's that. Everything's a little better afterward. You know?"

"A little better, huh?" The girl kept staring ahead, her eyes darting over to Alice and Kuon as they passed by. But Shiho didn't notice, her eyes were on the prize. "What if it doesn't make anything better."

"Then, I was an idiot for a moment." Shiho kicked one of her legs out, the blonde girl looking at them. Alice couldn't help the smile on her face as she dug through the books out front. "And, honestly, I'm an idiot a bunch. But I'm sometimes smart."

"More than some people would say about themselves. They'd claim they're smart. Never make a mistake." The blonde's hand twitched in the corner of her eye, towards Shiho but stopped. Alice had to fight to keep the smile. Girl's scared. She's going through something. Probably. She's hanging out with that gross Sakuya guy. "Why would you admit them?"

"Uh, well, if I don't I'm not gonna get my own shirt buttoned right?" Shiho's words made Alice wince but the blonde girl's muscles relaxed. Well, who am I to criticize I guess. Kuon tilted her head at Alice, a question on her lips. Alice shook her head. "Oh! There's my friends!"

"Hello Shiho!" Alice put down the book, nice and smooth before turning to look at the two of them. Shiho's face was lit up in a smile and the other girl had tightened up again. "I just wanted to make sure you two had some space. So we'll say hi and be on our way soon. I'm Alice and this is Kuon."

"Alice, Kuon." The girl's head tilted only a little, her eyes still ahead. "I'm Ann. You're the one who bothered Sakuya."

"Not on purpose." Alice shrugged, looking to Kuon. Maybe I can salvage this a little for Shiho. "I'm just kinda pushy in general. I'm working on it."

"This is new to me, Alice." Kuon ruined Alice's shot with some minor mischief, but Ann relaxed again. "It is nice to meet you, Ann. Shiho is a good person."

"If it weren't for the fumble, I'd assume they were asked to talk you up. Bye." Ann stood up, her teeth chattering. Shiho started after her. "I need to leave. That's all."

"Okay, well, uh, see you again?" Shiho tossed off to a noncommittal wave from Ann. Alice swooped in, putting an arm around Shiho. "She'll be back. Probably. This isn't our first time talking."

"Good. You seemed to be having a good time." Kuon turned her head towards Alice, getting a smile of reassurance in turn. "How did you meet her?"

"I was looking at some other sports in town, since Alice mentioned maybe I should. I was looking at maybe trying to learn roller derby? Since I don't get the same workout in the Still Hour, which I am not jealous of how you do that. But distracted, she was taking a picture of a torn up poster, but it was out of focus. So, I told her that." Shiho put an arm around Alice and squeezed. "Is this it, the fabled dress?"

"Yep! Finished this afternoon and needed to take it for a swirl. Then we saw you and decided we should drop by when you had a lull. But you noticed us." Alice tapped Shiho in the head, the girl tilting her head back in dramatic fashion. And to think, I could have missed someone like her. She's fun. "Roller derby, isn't that like the opposite contact level of volleyball?"

"Kinda." Shiho shrugged as they made their way tot he monorail. "You should come to a game once I start."

"Hey, Kuon. Don't act weird about this, because I'm going to take some hits." Alice huddled in with Shiho. "Let's try some roller derby."

-----

"Damn it, I wasted your time." Kotone sighed as she leaned on the shrine's jungle gym. Alice ducked inside, grabbing the underside and pulling herself up through the middle. "You don't seem to mind too much."

"Yeah, well. The long shot of, 'let's find this person at the shrine' is well, a long shot." Alice placed herself on the metal bar, enjoying the sun on her face. Kotone grabbed the side, climbing up to join her. "Hey there, sometimes I forget you're an heiress. You'll get your hands dirty. And I don't just mean slinging ice with Orpheus."

"Well, I have to mingle with the common people after all." Kotone put on the worst fake British accent that Alice had ever heard. She punished the heiress with a push. "What is this treason?"

"It's justice!" Alice shouted, hooking her legs for Kotone's retort. The shove sent Alice to the side, her hand snagging Kotone and almost taking the two of them off the jungle gym in the process. "The retribution of those above! Their shiny black boots on my neck!"

"Hey! You're the one who acts like she'd do that!" Kotone cackled as she helped pulled Alice upright. Alice shrugged with a grin on her face. "But in complete seriousness, I'm just a girl."

"I mean, you are and aren't. Like you're my friend, but you have like a shit ton of money." Alice looked over, catching a ghost of a frown on her face. "I don't hate you. Just in case."

"Well. That's good. Still awkward. Cause you know, people either really want to be my friend for not good reasons. Or, they you know, do hate me." Kotone kicked her legs for a moment, tilting her head to the side. Alice didn't know how to react. Cause there was the part of her brain that knew Kotone grew up different from her. Way different. But Kotone felt alone. And that Alice got. "You're making your thinking face."

"Just, like, you know, hey what do you mean my thinking face?" Alice slapped Kotone on the arm. The auburn haired girl cackled. "Seriously?"

"You scrunch your face up. Kinda cute." Kotone tilted her head to the side, letting her hair fall. Alice smiled back at her before giving her a push. "Hey, I said it's cute!"

"Yeah, you can just say it's a cute face!" Alice laughed as Kotone pushed her back, softer and gentler. "Hey, I'm not really mad. And to say what I'm thinking about has to do with like, you know, me being deep for once. Instead of all cute."

"Being deep for once. You know, when it comes to so many things you'll praise yourself. But when it comes to looking like you're, you know, more than your facade? You deflect. You talk down." Kotone's voice was mournful, her fingers tightening around the bars. "It kinda sucks, you know that? Because you're the one who figured out how to help Akari."

"Well, that's just seeing bits of me in her. Look, no one wants to think girls like me and her are cute. So I do that for me. Akari and I are the most gorgeous girls in SEES." Alice tapped her cheek, looking over at Kotone with only a hint of a smile. Kotone frowned, digging her hand around the bars. "Doesn't matter if I hate how I look. How bad of a job she did shaving. We're the most gorgeous in my eyes, so no one can take that from me. If that unshakable confidence also comes with me looking smart? People will hate me more. That trans girl is a threat to them."

"Oh. Shit." Kotone shimmied back between the bars, dropping to the ground. "Well, when it's us. You can be smart and gorgeous. Okay?"

"Yeah, I'll do that. And, Kotone, before you go?" Alice called out as Kotone started towards the steps. "I get being lonely. I don't get the rest but probably don't have to. And we'll find that Hifumi girl next time."

"Gotcha. See you whenever you get back." Kotone waved, heading down the stairs away from Alice. It was funny that both of them had spent all that time alone, they were honest and then Kotone dipped. Not that Alice didn't get why. They both ripped the other's mask off for a moment. Then they ripped off their own skin mask underneath.

Kinda sucked.

Alice stood at the top of the jungle gym, all of Iwatodai around her. And even up here, almost on top of the town, she was as ever, alone. Even with Kuon following her, Alice could be alone. Even with Akari, the two of them working on her nails, Alice could be alone. Even with Shiho, the two of them in roller blades, Alice could be alone. Even with Junpei, the two of them drinking ramen broth, Alice could be alone.

The jungle gym shook. Alice looked over to see Yukiko banging her palm on the jungle gym. Alice shook her head, "Need something, Yukiko?"

"Well, I figure if you're going to be up there, you can tell me what you see?" Yukiko's voice was playful. Alice wanted to see if there was a smile behind the veil or if the voice was fake. Was the veil a mask or the truth?

"A city full of people who give us funny looks, a stupid bridge that I hate, and a pretty girl who's not ruining my modesty." Alice tilted her head down towards Yukiko, the girl's eye's opening in shock for a moment. "Yeah, yeah, you told me not to. But you said that was about you not being good. Not because you know, you weren't interested?"

"Persistent, aren't you?" Yukiko's eyes dropped to the ground. Alice jumped, landing on the ground next to Yukiko. She rose from one knee, trying to take Yukiko's hand. "Why? You don't really know me. I could be a yokai, here to drag you back to my dwelling to feast on you."

"Hot. I mean, I kinda do know you. I know you want to make sure people are okay. I know you have a very good sense of aesthetics. I really liked your collection of art, a lot of it was handmade." Alice kept her hand out, an offer to Yukiko. The girl twisted for a moment, that same heavy black kimono on. "You kill with those looks. You know what you want to look like and you stick to it."

"See, you don't know me. You have a snapshot of me, something that's going to fade into nothing." Yukiko took a step around the hand, but joined Alice's side. She motioned for the Wildcard to follow. The two of them made their way down the shrine steps. "You're right that I want to look like this. But you think it's aesthetics. Don't you?"

"Well, yes? It matches your home's aesthetics." Alice tried to not huff, to not whine. Yukiko's fingers twitched towards Alice's hand but stopped. "You can."

"You can, I can't." Yukiko sighed as they wound through the streets of Iwatodai. "And yes, it matches my home. That sort of aesthetic matters to me. But I'm not wearing these to match them. I'm wearing them because I'm mourning."

"Oh." Alice wanted to test the material of Yukiko's kimono. At a glance it was heavy. But it could be breathable. But if it wasn't, that said something. Didn't it? "I'm not used to that. So, uh, do you want to say who?"

"Yes and no." Yukiko shrugged as she stopped at the alley she had taken Alice to before. Sakuya, Ann and the green jacketed girl stood at the mouth of it. Ann looked away when Alice looked to her. "You're later than you said."

"Got here when we got here. Don't complain." The green jacketed girl pulled out the brick, tossing a small roll of yen to Sakuya. He pocketed it before holding out a bottle of pills that Yukiko tucked into the folds of her kimono. "Gonna tell her?"

"It's her choice on how she'll die, Chie." Sakuya looked into Alice's eyes, the yellow eyes unmoving. She tilted her head at him, Chie taking a step in front of him. "Still, doesn't matter. She doesn't have power."

"Yeah, that's not the name of my knife. You being ready to fight is what's suspicious." Alice dipped towards her boot but Yukiko tugged on her sleeve. "This bitch is the one starting shit."

"Not worth it, Chie. Come on." Ann's dead blue eyes looked away as she dragged Chie back in mirror of Yukiko. The two groups separated, under duress.

"Okay, what the hell was all that." Alice pulled Yukiko's fingers off herself, the girl looking away. Alice huffed as she sped up to keep up with Yukiko. "Come on. Talk to me about whatever happened there."

"Sakuya's right. I am picking how I die." Yukiko walked to her door, her key working into the lock. She sighed, her veil trembling. "You were having a good time with Kotone. Focus on her. She has a lot more of a future. Let me pass in peace."

"Yukiko, knock that off. I'm not going to let you lock yourself away. If you wanted that, why did you approach me?" Alice brushed past Yukiko's allegation, because that didn't matter to this. It was a deflection. A stupid attempt to block her out. "Yukiko, you don't want this. Or at least part of you doesn't."

"Remember, you don't know me. You don't know why I mourn." Yukiko stepped inside, looking over her shoulder. Her lips moved past the veil. "And you don't know why I want to die. And I'm not telling. Have a good life Alice. I do appreciate the effort."

"Yukiko, come on. Please--" Alice was stymied as the door slammed in her face. The deadbolt finished the moat between them. Alice took a step back, waiting to see if there was a chance that Yukiko came out. After fifteen minutes, she gave up and went back to the dorm.

Stupid Yukiko. I wanted to know. I wanted to reach out. I wanted to help her, I wanted a friend like Shiho wound up being. And more. And now my brain is yelling at me about Kotone because she said to go to her instead.

"Hey." Akane waved and Alice paused for a moment on her way up the stairs. "You good? You look like you want to kill someone. And I know you haven't seen Akari today."

"It's not that. Yukiko's a frustrating person." Alice gripped the banister, starting to pull herself up the stairs. Akane took a step closer. "She comes up, gets close and then pushes me away. Says I don't know her at all. She... why. She'd help me, but she won't let me help her. Or even get close to helping her."

"Congratulations, that's been my problem for months now." Akane sighed, her hair falling over her eyes. "She won't talk about what happened. She just keeps saying she's done. Kotone got pissed and gave up. I'm starting to feel like an idiot. When I saw how she looked at you, I had a hope."

"Well. I kinda want to go in there and drag her beautifully dressed ass out of there. Make her explain anything." Alice huffed, resuming her path up. "Wanna help?"

"Maybe give her a week. Go back too soon, she won't answer." Akane admitted, her knuckles white with her grip on the bannister. "Let's try and get her together next time."

"Thanks. Appreciate it. At this point, it's a matter of pride." Alice pat Akane's hand until the girl relaxed, the two of them rushing up to their room to rest.

-----

"Hey, Hidetoshi. Why the hell are you--" Alice didn't let the guy finish, socking him in the face. He stumbled backwards. Akari gasped in surprise, reaching for Alice's shoulder. The guy swung his leg for Alice, Kuon picking him up by the collar before he could connect. "Of course you freaks would stick together. Hey, Naoya, back me up here."

"Alice, Kuon, you will get suspended. They can only--" Akari sidestepped a blonde man that rushed past her. Alice grabbed his arm, redirecting him towards his buddy. Kuon dropped him in front. "It doesn't matter if they provoked you two if you both hurt them!"

"It's fine." Alice dusted her hands and leaned in towards the men, grinning. "You see, boys, if you report me, I'm going to have a lot of time to figure out other ways to kick your asses. Got it?"

"She is very dedicated when she makes promises like this." Kuon added, her fingers buttoning her lab coat again. The boys swallowed. "I believe this is where I say this: boo."

The boys took off, leaving Alice to smile at Akari. The new girl let out a shaky breath as she leaned on the wall, "Alice, you already got suspended once. Some aggression towards me is expected from the likes of them."

"And they should learn to be afraid of showing it." Alice took Akari's left on the wall, keeping an eye on the fleeing would be bullies. Kuon stood in the hallway, staring. "Kuon, come on over, take a load off. You did good."

"I only needed to modulate power and there was no risk." Kuon announced as she joined Alice on the wall. "That Alice could negotiate them to not pursue further hostilities is good. You will be safe longer."

"Yes, but I care if Alice gets kicked out. Shiomi will kick your ass. And that's if Chairwoman Hyodo doesn't kick you out first." Akari crossed her arms, looking towards the faculty office. Alice shrugged. "Why don't you care?"

"Kotone kicking my ass, might be hot. And if Hyodo kicks me out, Kuon walks." Alice glanced to Kuon, the woman's olive eyes impassive despite the nod of affirmation. "And, it's not like I'm a stranger to getting kicked out. Sure, this is my last chance or whatever, but why would they let me out of their sight. I know about too much. You're in the same boat."

"Look, if you piss them off enough, they'll probably do worse. Watch your back." Akari took a step off the wall, pausing. Alice stopped herself from turning the other direction, waiting. "And thank you. For stepping in. But, please pick a way that doesn't give me a heart attack next time. I don't want to be alone in here."

"Eh, we'll see how it goes. But you're welcome." Alice gave her a half wave, leading Kuon away. She knew the android had a question. "Akari, she likes strictures and rules. Stuff like that. Gives her something to live by. And she hasn't figured out that she can't do that anymore."

"She cannot live her life the way she is used to because she has made a choice for herself. Is this not uncomfortable?" Kuon asked as boot and hoof alike thundered down the stairs. Alice nodded. "Then why do it?"

"Better than the alternative, Kuon. She hit a moment of realization. That the way it was, it was going to kill her." Alice's voice tightened, her eyes watering. She couldn't keep her speed up anymore. Kuon slowed in time the thunder becoming a drizzle of steps. "Sorry. Emotional. Kuon, if I didn't do it, I would be dead. One way or another. So, figuring out how to live, how to break out of all these stupid constraints. Worth it. She's figuring out the cost. I just made it easier. So did you."

"That wasn't my intent. It was to keep you safe. You were engaging in a risky activity. And despite the advantage you had, I was not going to risk your safety. It is this d--" Kuon paused, searching for another word. "Entity's best utilitization to keep you safe."

"Nah, your best choice there was to make sure our friend was supported. If someone is threatening Akari or anyone like that? Even if I’m not there, help them. If you don't, assholes like that will come back time and time again." Alice blinked as they stepped out into the sunlight, shielding her blurred eyes from the sun. "And you are not a doll, still. You're a friend. You're figuring out a lot, what lines to break. I hope you break the one about what you are."

"I see. You hope I will reflect more about my existence. Despite my designation as akin to a doll, you will not accept that." Kuon's fingers flexed, an unnecessary movement as they walked. Alice filed it away for later. "Why is that?"

"Maybe you don't feel things as deep as others or me, but you feel things. You understand things like aesthetics. Or you wouldn't have lured me to the forest with the pretty sunbeam." Alice tilted her head towards Kuon, her cheek twitching. "Don't worry, not a bad thing. And like Akari and I did our share of burying emotions in our own way. So, no judgment. But I am going to get you out of that hole if I can help it."

"I am-- a metaphor." Kuon's voice cut off for a moment before starting as if she had been in another sentence. Alice winced. "You seem convinced something is wrong, but I am not feeling any malfunctions."

"It's... ugh. Another time. My head hurts. But just, how does it feel when I think you're doing well?" Alice pulled herself to the back of the monorail, Kuon hot on her heels.

"I feel good." Kuon admitted, holding her fist to her chest. Alice nodded and planted herself in the seat. "That is accomplishment."

"Sure is. Pretty human." Alice knew the flirting wasn't getting through to Kuon, but it was safe. She couldn't figure out Yukiko and she didn't want to feel like she was treating Kotone as a second option.

Or deal with the fact that she wanted to drag them both into her room and kiss them. At the same time was her preference. She'd have to settle for neither. Full Moon was soon anyway.

Chapter Text

"Alright. I'm all set up for this one. Let's see what happens when everything gets quiet." Shiho's Evoker rested against her temple, her phone on the banister in front of her. Ann's name was at the top of the screen. Alice smiled as the Still Hour descended. Shiho's persona emerged, feeding her information. "Let's see... looks like they're at the baseball stadum."

"Alright, you heard her, let's get going." Alice took off, following Junpei's lead. He knew where it was better than all of them. His jersey tails flew up in the wind as Alice moved to keep only a bit behind him. "We'll keep your team functioning."

"Ain't worried about that Alice. Just feeling it. Not the way I did in May before you worry too much." Junpei looked over at Alice with a smile. She glanced back to see the rest of the group had given them some space. "Told them to make me play, I was ready for it."

"And how'd that go?" Alice figured it went well from the smile on Junpei's face, his sword rattling against its scabbard. He shook his head. "Then why are you grinning?"

"Cause, fuck 'em. Kotone's probably gonna yell at them when she finds out. But, I dunno dude. It's kinda freeing, to know I did what I should and they were scared of what I meant." Junpei laughed into the night sky and Alice joined in with him. "See, I knew you would get it."

"Any group scared of my bud Junpei? Fucking garbage." Alice nodded with him, coasting to a stop in front of the stadium. Junpei kicked down his stand, swinging off the bike. Akari, Akane, Kotone and Kuon weren't far behind. "Cool. Akari with Junpei. Akane with Kuon. Kotone with me. Shiho's lighting up that it's moving around a lot, sooooo, we're gonna pin it down and rip it apart."

"Update. Definitely has shadows or something else sharing the space." Shiho chimed in, her voice a haze of fog. Alice tilted her neck to the side, cracking it. "Looks like it might be chasing one of them."

"Kuon, let's cut that one off and try to help." Akane was off, the android on her heels. Alice didn't hate the initiative as she followed the path towards the tail end of what Shiho had flagged as the big signal.

"Great thing about this hour, you can just turnstile hop." Kotone flashed Alice a grin as she jumped the gate. Alice felt fancy, sliding underneath. "Didn't figure you'd go down."

"Hey, you never know." Alice winked on instinct, noting the way Kotone went red. The heiress extended her naginata, whirling it as they emerged onto the field. A black haired girl in a dress decorated with blue, red and white chevrons was being chased by an equine shaped shadow, the number IX on the mask across its face. Akane and Kuon were chasing after it, arrows of lightning striking at its hindquarters. Their source was a faceless mass of bronze armor with a bow riding a horseless chariot, Hector. "Not working I think!"

"Yeah, well, rescue Hifumi!" Kotone ran for the girl and Alice skidded to a stop in front of the Shadow. It reared up the entire underside charged with electricity. "Alice!"

"Of fucking course." Alice braced herself in a cocoon of the Moirai's threads, the insulation doing enough that she only wanted to cry in pain instead of screaming and dying. She staggered backwards, the scent of smoke following her. "Ow. Kuon, think you can rein it in?"

"On it." Kuon jumped up, sending her bladed yo yos into its flank now that it was stopped. Kotone grabbed Alice, pulling the wildcard behind her. "Kotone, what are you doing?"

"Keeping Alice safe, don't worry about it. Come on ugly, let's dance." Kotone sliced at its hooves as the girl, apparently Hifumi, stared up at the shadow while it tried to buck Kuon off its back. "Hey, Hifumi, would you maybe do me a favor and move Alice?"

"I can move." Alice's muscles fought her as she moved, little extra shocks running through her body. Hifumi bit her lip, trying to drag Alice back. "You want to help? Take my Evoker. Gun thing. And then use it the worst way possible."

"What?" Hifumi froze, her eyes on the Evoker. Her breath hitched, her dark green eyes wide. Alice grunted, failing to point the Evoker at her head. The Shadow rolled across the ground, Kuon crunching with each rotation. Akane met it face with a cleat, but the Shadow's momentum sent her flying back before Hector caught her. "I can't!"

"You can. Kuon, let go." Alice managed to bark as Orpheus strummed a chord, sending a flurry of icicles into the Shadow. Kuon went flying, her Evoker clicking to fire. Hifumi shook near Alice. "It won't kill you, it hasn't killed them. And since I can't move and the others are missing."

"They're in a fight." Shiho chimed in, an invigorating gas settling around Alice. The aches and jitters began to settle but not fast enough.

"Merkhet." Kuon's persona emerged, the android's more functional arm snagging the pendulum to swing with grace to the ground. The persona floated in the air, a long bar decorated with glyphs and a long pendulum on the end. It had a bird face at the other end, frozen in place squawking. Kuon's damaged limb sparked as sheared bits of metal fell off it. Alice's heart thundered with worry about the android and the fact she was frowning.

"But." Hifumi's fingers hesitated over the metal on Alice's hip. The Wildcard ground her feet into the dirt, using what motor control she had regained to force the Evoker into Hifumi's hand. The girl pulled it from the holster, placing the barrel under her chin. "I guess, I have to. Before someone dies. Antigone."

A funeral shroud fluttered out of the space behind Hifumi, the fabric cradling a skeleton with a rope around its neck. The rope rattled with darkness that whipped towards the shadow, shredding its leg as it stood up. Kotone's naginata took the other leg. Alice snatched her Evoker back, Shiho's persona giving her full control again. "Thanks for keeping it busy. Have a good nap. Moirai."

The threads of fate snapped the shadow's neck. Alice looked over to where Hifumi collapsed. "Damn, hate being right. Hey Shiho, where's Junpei and Akari?"

"Still fighting a persona user. She and Junpei are in a stalemate since they're both using fire and Akari's dancing around her." Shiho's voice was breathy, like her heart wasn't in what was going on. Alice looked at the rest of the team. Kuon was short a working arm. Akane was bruised up, but moving. Kotone was looking down on Hifumi. "What's the plan?"

"I'm not hurt anymore, thanks to you. Kuon, Akane sit with Hifumi. Kotone, let's go be the cavalry." Alice followed the path Shiho was beaming, Kotone on her heels. "So, since when is there another persona user?"

"I don't know. Far as I knew, we were the only ones. I'm still not sure how the Chairwoman knew personas were a thing." Kotone's grip on her naginata tightened. Alice bit her lip as they ran into the away team's entrance. Junpei's sword stuck out of a wall, Hermes floating behind the persona user as he traded fire with a floating persona of a woman in a bloody white robe and a shattered crown at her feet. Akari was panting, telltale red lines over her skin where she had been healing herself. And facing them was Ann, dead eyed and holding a whip. Kotone swung her naginata at the girl's leg, the whip snapping to send it off course. "Okay, you got game."

"Ann!" Alice yelled, drawing the dead eyes towards her. Shiho's voice made sense. Ann took a step back, tightening her grip around the whip. "What's this about?"

"I." Ann said a word and Junpei and Akari exchanged a glance. Alice took a step forward, hoping there was some misunderstanding. Junpei and Akari had cooled their jets some, but they weren't perfect. Ann raised an Evoker to her head, firing. "Hypermnestra."

The persona started to build a boiling ball of blood, undulating in the air above Ann. The ball lost its integrity, the persona showcasing a wicked grin as Ann's skin was scalded in silence. Alice's persona swept Ann away from whatever her persona was doing. The girl dug in a pocket, her eyes shining with a tear as she shoved a pill into her mouth. The persona faded and she fell asleep. Alice slapped her head. "Shiho, your girlfriend's got problems."

"She's not my girlfriend!" Shiho's panic response seemed to rouse her out of not caring. "She's alive but, needs help."

The Still Hour ending meant it wasn't going to be pretty.

-----

"Ann." Shiho stood over Ann's unconscious form in the bed, deep bags under her eyes. An EKG machine beeped at a steady pace, announcing that despite the burns that darkened Ann's face and neck, she was alive. Her half melted puffer jacket and burnt beanie sat on the coat hooks of the room. Alice hovered at the edge of the room, watching Shiho's hand land almost on Ann's. "What is going on? What exactly were those pills you pulled out of her pocket? Have you seen them?"

Alice swallowed. She knew where she had seen them. Yukiko's apartment. The day they met. Alice took a step forward, laying a hand on Shiho's shoulder. "I have. But I don't know what they do beyond making her persona stop."

"Yeah, that was clear. It's like her signal died." Shiho took a step back into Alice, leaning on her. The girl had gotten to the hospital last night and refused to leave. Alice couldn't blame her. Shiho closed her eyes, a tear rolling down her cheek. "She didn't say anything the entire time except the name of her persona. I tried to make her listen to me and... it felt like a brick wall."

"She had two other friends. They kept talking about things not mattering. But, she was different around them than you." Alice held Shiho tight to herself, helping her stay upright. The idiot hadn't sat down since last night, probably. "She joked, she talked. I think because of you, she recognized me. That's why she spoke."

"You think so?" Shiho's voice warbled, matching the tone of the machines in the room. Alice pat her on the head, this was not the moment for patronizing. "I just wanted to spend time with her. I liked her. She was fun and easy to talk to. But last night it was like she was a different person."

"And maybe that's why she couldn't control her persona. She was out of touch with herself. She wasn’t Ann." Alice whispered, feeling Shiho shake with a sob. She sighed, feeling like she had dropped the ball. That Shiho was going to crash. "Shiho, girl, what I'm saying is that happened because she went against the part of her that wanted to listen to what you said."

"Oh." Shiho's voice drowned in her throat as Alice guided her to take a seat. Alice hummed, petting the girl's head until Shiho matched her maybe girlfriend. Unconscious and sad. Alice let herself into the hall, not letting the door make noise. For once in her life.

She walked down the hospital hall, calling Akari. She was the one who was the most cautious of SEES, she'd give the most info that would be against Shiho's preconception. Maybe it was a little disingenuous after the conversation with Shiho.

"Alice." Akari sounded tired, like she had woken up from the phone call. Which tracked, the girl slept in in when they didn't have school. She was so close to maybe being cool. "What do you need from me?"

"Leaving the hospital from checking in on Shiho and Ann. Which is part of why I called." Alice tapped the elevator button, waiting. Akari huffed in annoyance. "Girl, I'm calling your ass because you are going to tell me what you think. Junpei's gonna worry about Shiho, which is sweet. But you're going to tell me what you think."

"Couldn't have called after breakfast?" Akari sighed but her voice was a little lighter. Cool, trust. Which makes sense I guess. "Alright. That Ann girl dropped in front of us, caught me across the chest with her whip. She didn't fight like she cared about killing us. Or that we might kill her."

"Explain that one." Alice stepped into the elevator, sending a prayer under her breath that it wouldn't cut off her call in the stupid box.

"She never dodged or used her persona to block. She stood there, swinging her whip and flinging that boiling blood. It was obstruction, pure and simple." Akari's voice told Alice she was pinching her forehead right now. Strained, tired. Which made sense given how everyone got thrown around like ragdolls. "All the while Suzui was trying to talk to her. How does she know her?"

"Not for SEES reasons. For being nosy with a girl taking pictures reasons." Alice would have teased if she wasn't tired herself. She walked onto the bus, heading for where they were supposed to be fixing Kuon's busted arm. "So, you know, be gentle there. Thanks for confirming that Ann was being strange and not explaining herself. Now, what do you know about Hifumi?"

"Beyond that she was there last night, awakened and you and Shiomi tried to find her for having potential? She doesn't go to Gekkoukan, she goes to the public school. Not a damn thing otherwise." Akari's footfalls echoed in the receiver, her breath shaky. Alice shrugged, it was about what Kotone had mentioned. "I think Shiomi put her in a spare room. But I'm not a hundred percent on that, I was busy leaning on Junpei for support."

"Oh, were you now?" Alice grinned out the window as Iwatodai shot by. Akari huffed. "Shouldn't have told me you like boys."

"Alice, can you not? Not all of us are wanting to shack up with someone in the dorm." Akari hissed to laughter from Alice. "I've seen how you look at Shiomi. And Kuon."

"Uh uh uh, you're not turning this on me. Junpei is sweet, actually. Now that I've gotten to know him. Why do you think I sent you two as a pair last night?" Alice let the teasing kill Akari on the spot, her phone jumping to a dialtone. "She'll figure it out."

Alice hummed as she let herself off the bus. She spotted the green jacket girl sitting a few rows ahead of the back door. Chie, that's her name. And she's probably following me. Cool.

Alice pulled out her switchblade, hiding it within her dresse's sleeve. Chie hopped off the bus, following Alice as she skipped up the road, past her destination. Such a massive pain. I want to know Kuon's okay.

"So. Where's Ann?" Chie growled, running towards Alice. The Wildcard took a sidestep, letting Chie blast past her. She moved fast, even in all the heavy winter clothes. Alice rolled her eyes once Chie wheeled around to look at her. "You bitch, where did you take her?"

"To get fixed up, you all don’t know how to take care of yourselves. What's going on with her persona?" Alice tilted her head to the side, an earnest and frustrating confusion. Chie sucked in a breath, her eyebrows furrowed. "Look. I like, half care, that she fought us. But I care way more that her persona just fucking tried to kill her."

"Sure you do. I'm the one asking questions." Chie shoved her hands in her pocket, walking towards Alice. A cruel smile cut across her face as she approached. Her leg twitched and Alice snapped her switchblade towards Chie. "Where is Ann?"

"You give me some information and I'll consider it. Cause, I want to know what that pill was, what happened with her persona." Alice took a step forward, the blade getting closer to Chie's neck. "Think I won't cut you?"

"Think it won't matter." Chie's knee rose in a sudden motion, hitting Alice in the gut. The switchblade dropped, Alice falling forward. She grabbed Chie's jacket in a panic, dragging her down to the sidewalk. Chie kicked at Alice's stomach, sending a wave of nausea through her at the impact. Alice let go of her. She rolled away. "You care too much about what you feel."

"Fuck you." Alice snatched the switchblade off the ground, her skin covered in scrapes from fleeing Chie's next kick. She cut through the air, slicing at Chie's retreating leg. "You care too. Ugh, you and Sakuya are creeps."

"Chie." Sakuya walked out of the alley, the gun at his hip larger than Alice's hand. The girl took a step back, looking away from Alice. The Wildcard mirrored the reverse step, switchblade pointed forward. "You matter more than expected but not enough. Humans need stillness, nothingness. Reaching out for that without enough power, we suffer. When we forget that, we must remind ourselves. Ann seems to have forgotten that."

"I'm really not buying that." Alice grumbled as she looked over her shoulder. "She was fighting, that wasn't stillness. That wasn't nothingness."

"You don't understand. Ann let her passion reemerge." Chie slammed her foot down, the irony lost on her. Alice bit her lip, eyes on Sakuya's gun. "And passion is how you burn out."

"You're really crazy, cool, got it. Still not telling you where she is. And Sakuya doesn't super seem to care." Alice took another step back as Sakuya began to walk away, leaving her alone. Chie spit on the ground, turning on one heel. Okay, cool, definitely need persona help with her. And a way to get rid of Sakuya's gun if he can ever deign to raise it.

Alice didn't enter Shiomi Solutions until she knew for sure they were out of sight. The receptionist stared at the blade and then her ripped up tights and legs. She shrugged. "Tough city. Kotone should have called ahead for me, Alice Hiiragi."

"There is no need. I'm f-- better now." Kuon nodded her head as she stood up from a couch facing a plant display. Her lips pursed for a moment. "You are not. You appear to have been injured."

"Talk about it, more worried about you." Alice waved to the confused receptionist as Kuon walked over, ignorant to how stiff her new labcoat looked. "Don't you get uncomfortable with how that thing doesn't move?"

"No. If it begins to impede movement, I'll destroy it." Kuon's words gave Alice a spark of heat to her cheeks. She wanted to destroy the android's clothes. Eventually. When she could consent to being ravished. "Why are you injured?"

"That's a dorm conversation." Alice threaded her arm around Kuon's starting the walk back to the dorm. Her companion's arms shifted in small ways, creating the most comfortable cradle of metal and polymers in Alice's life. "How is the arm?"

"Replaced. They will fix that one and have it in reserve for future damage." Kuon was matter of fact but looked down at her right arm. Alice squeezed her arm, preparing herself for the question to come. "There is a thought experiment, the ship of Theseus. Where if you rebuild the Ship of Theseus by replacing each part as it breaks, do you still have the Ship?"

"Duh. Yes. It's the same shape. It functions the same, if not better. It's the arrangement that has the emotional connection." Alice didn't know why she had all of that ready to go at a moment's notice. Kuon pursed her lips in thoughts. "And with you, your ‘brain.’ your thoughts, your experiences, you would all go with the new body. You'd still be Kuon. You'd still matter to me."

"You are sure about this. That, I matter to you." Kuon looked at her hand, turning it back and forth as they walked. The blades in the hand peeked between the spacing. "Why?"

"Well, I like g-- no, that's a little flippant for this. But still true. You're a good woman. You care about us and not just me, you show it in a lot of little ways. That you adapt for me and the rest of the team." Alice ran a finger through her hair, tugging on a tangle to try and keep herself from getting too sappy. "Like, you make sure that if someone takes a hit, you bear the brunt for them. And sure, that's logical or whatever, but I never asked you to. You linger near anyone on the team who's moving slow. You don't smile, but that doesn't mean you don't care in some way. And you’re a kickass robot."

"I strive for operational effectiveness around SEES because you want it. You operate with increased recklessness when SEES is threatened." Kuon nailed Alice in the gut, to go with the new bruises the had gotten. "Am I wrong?"

"You're not, however if you only cared about it when I was around, it would be a different story. I know you're the one who organizes the cereal so Kotone's stops getting lost behind Akari's." Alice laughed at the little twitch on Kuon's face as her sore stomach told her to never laugh again with a twinge to shatter mountains. "And the study guides for Akari and Akane."

"You have one too." Kuon responded and Alice swore there was some sass in there. "You do not use it. Despite your grades being below where they could be."

"Too pretty to study Kuon. And I do use them. Just... last minute." Alice looked off to the side, because last minute was right. She only used them the night before exams. Kuon blinked at Alice's returned gaze. "I'll use them sooner, fine! But yes, you care, I care! Okay?"

"Okay."

-----

"Hey." Alice leaned on the open door to Hifumi's potential room. The new persona user stared at the metal case with an Evoker in it, her fingers tapping across her chin. Hifumi didn't look towards her. "I know I was pushy last night, but I wanted to make sure people didn't die. I'm Alice, by the way. And you're Hifumi."

"I am." Hifumi sat up straight, hands in lap. She'd gotten a shower since last night, her hair silky and straight. She snapped the case shut, setting it on the floor. "Are you here to convince me to join as well?"

"I wanted to talk to you. It's kind of a lot. And you were really hesitant." Alice could feel Hifumi boring holes into her, those green eyes focused like lasers. Alice smiled at her. "You seem less so now."

"I don't care how much good you're doing, I don't want in." Hifumi held out the case to Alice. Her feet were pushed together. "You can tell Mariko thank you, but no thank you."

"I can. But, would you answer some questions for me?" Alice crossed her arms, palms out towards Hifumi. A slight refusal. Hifumi huffed, blowing a strand of hair from her face. "I don't know what the Chairwoman told you. I don't know what Kotone told you. Something, something, save the world. I would guess."

"That the monster last night is a threat to people. Which, that was correct. But you all had a handle on it." Hifumi pushed the case into Alice's hand. Alice waved her hand. "You did, what do you want?"

"I want to know why you were afraid of the Evoker. I didn't tell them that you knew what it was. That you knew how it worked." Alice whispered, gazing into Hifumi's eyes. The girl looked away from her. "I'm not going to tell on you. Just, what's going on and I'll take the Evoker away."

"I saw one get used once. And I don't trust them. I don't trust that they'll be used for good." Hifumi shoved the case against Alice's hand. The Wildcard took it, letting it swing down to her side. "Thanks. I expected you to try and talk me out of it."

"I'm not going to force you to do anything. I've learned that's not really an option. But, I trust you to do the right thing. Since you're reluctant." Alice took a step out the door, silence following her wake. She peeked over her shoulder to seeing Hifumi frozen in the doorway. "What's up, girl? You made the call."

"I never thought reluctance would make someone trust me." Hifumi whispered, looking down at her feet. Alice turned back around, closing the door behind her. "What?"

"More privacy, because you need some pep talk before I send you out there." Alice took a seat on the floor, stretching her legs out and trying to ignore her sore stomach. She winced. "Also, like, got my ass kicked slightly, so I'm going to be a bit blunt. Anyone who decides that you're not trust worthy because you want to be sure of your choice? Garbage. Kick their ass. Get me to help. I respect that you know what you're about."

"That doesn't make sense to me." Hifumi wrinkled the hem of her dress, looking away from Alice. "Second guessing yourself is bad, that's what everyone says. They expect a decision right then."

"Eh. You're confident in your choice and that matters to me more. You considered. You gave me something to work off, even if it's not much." Alice shrugged, leaning her head back on the wall with a groan of pain. "Won't complain if you tell me more. But when you make up your mind, don't let anyone else change your mind without good reason. I may act on impulse and be sure about it, but that's cause that's me. You get me?"

"Think I do. The confidence someone has when they do that is good for knocking other people off balance." Hifumi mused, releasing her dress in slow motion. Alice nodded. "And meanwhile, opponents assume that you're an easy mark with long deliberations."

"Sounds like a trap you can lure people into. But I'm not sure where this is coming from." Alice was in too much pain to try and navigate any implications from Hifumi. "Also, if you've seen others use Evokers, when?"

"Shogi tournaments. And last year. And I don't want to discuss that." Hifumi shivered and Alice felt a pit in her stomach. "I think you need to rest. And I want to go home, my cousin is worried enough I'm sure."

"Yeah, that sounds good. Take my number if you want to talk more about any of this in the future. Or just, to you know, talk to someone who isn't going to judge you for taking a bit of time. Kinda learned patience this year." Alice didn't bother leaving this room, crawling over to the bed. Hifumi frowned as she walked to the door. "I'll live. See ya Hifumi."

"Bye Alice." Hifumi's departure left the word Moon bouncing around her head.

Chapter Text

"You let her go." The Chairwoman slammed a hand on the table. Alice rolled her eyes, catching Akane huff in the corner of her vision. "She knows about us, where we are, our connection to Gekkoukan and you didn't try to do anything to keep her here?"

"Her choice. Her life. She considered it. She said no." Alice yawned opening her bottle of estrogen, shoving a tablet under her tongue. "So, I didn't push. She didn't sound like she'd talk and who would believe her."

"Hiiragi. What is so hard to understand about confidentiality?" The Chairwoman leaned closer, a snarl on her face. Alice huffed at her, picking up her empty breakfast bowl. "I know you think you know everything because you're eighteen but you do not. This is an unacceptable security risk."

"The number one construction company in Japan has a squad of high schoolers who fight monsters when time stops at midnight." Alice wished she could enjoy the sensation of her HRT dissolving in her mouth, instead of it becoming gritty crystals grinding to powder to a lingering half decent sweetness. "Oh, and they have magic powers they activate by shooting themselves in the head. What, they don't use it to mess with other companies? Yeah, I might have believed you until you told me that."

Akane giggled and the Chairwoman wheeled towards her. She poked a finger at the veteran SEES member, the snarl digging deeper into her face. "Why do you think that's acceptable to laugh at?"

"Because it's ridiculous? I see why Alice said that. If you're really worried, pay her. Maybe this is why we don't have Yukiko anymore." Akane glared at the Chairwoman and she took a step back, the snarl fading to a frown. Akane walked over to Alice and grabbed her by the arm, dragging her away from the table. "We're out."

"Seeya!" Alice hollered over her shoulder. She slapped Akane on the arm once they were out the door, forcing her to let go. "Thanks for the out, don't need to keep holding."

"Yeah, probably not. I wanted to talk to Yukiko. You remember the weird pills from when you hit your head?" Akane's eyes were watering with tears. Alice nodded. "Well. Ann's persona tried to attack her, until she took those pills. And Yukiko had them too. I'm worried she's working with Ann and--"

"I don't think she's working with those three." Alice cut Akane off as she walked down the hill towards Yukiko's house. "Getting the pills from them, yes. But, you don't really think she'd do that right?"

"I don't know. She's been acting weird. Like not just Yukiko weird, but like weird weird." Akane looked ahead, her hand raised to give Alice a shove. Something normal. Her arm dropped. "It started last year and it's only gotten worse and worse. First she quit SEES. Then the clothing change. Then pushing me away. And now the pills."

"Okay, the clothes rule. The rest is worrying. The pills especially." Alice didn't want to think about Yukiko saying that Alice didn't know her. She didn’t want to consider why Yukiko quit and hid why. But she didn’t have much of a choice, did she? “So, we’re going to have to make her answer us. Right?”

“Yeah, we are.” Akane set her eyes on Yukiko’s door before slamming her palm on it. Once. Twice. Thrice. “Yukiko! Get out here! This is fucking important!”

Alice leaned on the wall, waiting. Her heart burned with worry and she couldn’t tell if that was infatuation, rage or anything. She hated the various uncertainties that built up around Yukiko. The door pulled open and Akane’s hand dragged Yukiko out into the light. The girl’s veil was askew as she opened her mouth to speak. “Akane, what is wrong with you?”

“You’ve been avoiding me! You’re taking pills that suppress your persona! And the other person we saw use one, she got attacked by her persona!” Akane shook Yukiko, the girl’s spider lily flinging off to where Alice caught it. She laid a hand on Akane’s wrist, stilling Akane from shaking Yukiko more. “We came to get answers!”

“Talk yes, throttle no. That’s a consent thing.” Alice squeezed Akane’s wrist until she released Yukiko. Alice kept the spider lily from Yukiko’s reach, standing on tiptoe to leverage all of her height. Yukiko huffed at her, jumping to grab it. “Please tell us what’s going on with the pills. We’re worried about you.”

“I… there’s not much to say. They keep me from making mistakes. They keep everyone safe, so that my problems are mine and not yours.” Yukiko gripped her elbows, taking a step away from them. Alice let out a long sigh. “They are. It’s my life to live, my cage to choose.”

“Or to destroy! What do you mean keep everyone safe? What’s going on?” Akane’s face was soaked in tears, the teen using her sleeve to clean herself of her misery. Yukiko couldn’t meet her eyes. “I’ve known you for six years and you’ve never been like this. Please. Tell me.”

“If it would be easier if I was gone, I can take a few steps away. But you get the flower back after you talk to Akane.” Alice tucked the flower into her own hair, manipulating it around the stem to hold it. Yukiko gasped and then giggled. “I bet it looks good on me.”

“It does, but you remind me of a super villain between the color of your hair and it. And the ultimatum.” Yukiko raised her hand to her face, reaffixing her veil. She took a deep breath. “Come in. Both of you.”

Yukiko’s art had gotten more cluttered, more skulls adorned with spikes and more mini canvas covered in gradients of deepening red. Sweat dripped down Alice’s neck, the fault of a space heater droning away in the corner of the room. Akane shuffled three awkward steps to the couch, undoing her top button to let herself breath. Yukiko reached up to a sculpted skull, tapping spike sticking through the eye to her finger. “My persona went berserk last year. It hurt me and someone else. Those three have berserk personas and take suppressants for them too. Sakuya sells me what I need.”

“Yukiko, you went to a stranger instead of Kotone or I? For a year?” Akane’s jaw dropped, her voice warbling with rage. Alice didn’t get it, but she didn’t have to. Yukiko didn’t turn to look at her. “Why?”

“I ran, because I had to. What if I hurt you or Kotone?” Yukiko’s voice dropped, seeking the core of the earth to bury her guilt in. Akane gripped the arm of the couch, fingers digging furrows in the fabric in slow but violent motion. “I don’t want to hurt anyone. The pills stop that and I can’t fight shadows. So I’m better off here.”

“You shouldn’t be alone just because you can’t fight.” Alice cut in, her hand reaching for Yukiko’s. Akane nodded, her jaw slamming shut. “Sucks that you didn’t tell anyone. And maybe they could have helped you to not hurt and be hurt in turn.”

“Alice is right. We’re here for you.” Akane started to stand but Yukiko let her hand fall, taking the skull in her hand. “You look miserable. You’re almost cold towards us.”

“Matches my skin. Maybe I’ll be an ice spirit when I die.” Yukiko joked as if she hadn’t admitted to her persona engaging in attacking people. She held out the skull to Alice’s hand, filling it to keep her distance. “The medicine does that. It lowers my body temperature, I have a hard time feeling warm. No more human furnace Yukiko.”

Damn, that’d have been nice to experience.

"Yukiko, why are you talking about dying so casually? It fucking hurts!" Akane's fist landed on the couch, bouncing back up. Yukiko walked over to her, kneeling in front of her. "You... you were there for so much of my life. I don't want to lose you."

"I know. But, I have to do this. Okay?" Yukiko reached out to Akane and the brunette ran from the room. She ducked Alice's hand to stop her, leaving the house. "Well. I could have done better."

"Ya think?" Alice dropped onto Yukiko's couch. She tugged the woman up to sit next to her. She hadn't lied about how cold her hands were, her touch frigid to Alice’s inferno. "Pretty certain telling your best friend you want to die is a major faux pas."

"Probably, but since when do you care about faux pas?" Yukiko put on the fakest smirk Alice had seen, her bone cold fingers wrapping around Alice's blazing hand. It was an uncomfortable feeling, like she was feeding Yukiko the heat she needed to live. She would do it, but she didn't have to like it. Alice stuck out her tongue. "Even I heard about the car mounting."

"Morooka should have answered my questions, he's a teacher. That's a way bigger faux pas, to deny a student knowledge." Alice teased, finding herself lured into a relaxed conversation with Yukiko. Which sucked, because part of the point of this was getting information on what the fuck was going on. "Yukiko, explain what actually happened when your persona went berserk. Please."

"I..." Yukiko paused, her fingers tracing over Alice's thumb. She reached up and toyed with her veil. She pulled it down, letting Alice see her face unimpeded for the first time. Her nose was a cute little thing, her lips chapped but a pretty red that Alice couldn't tear her eyes form without effort. Yukiko closed her eyes, her voice hazy in the heat of the apartment. "I killed someone. My persona transfers life force. I used it to heal someone attacked by a Shadow. But, then I got scared the life went the wrong way. And they... turned to nothing but bones."

Alice's lungs burned as she let loose the breath trapped within. The veil, the flower, all of it made sense now. She clasped Yukiko's hand. "It was an accident. You couldn't have meant to. Because where was the life coming from?"

"... myself. It was supposed to be enough to heal him and then I would rest. It wasn't unusual to need to do that." Yukiko admitted, her posture collapsing like all the walls she built. Alice let the woman lean on her, her frigid body shaking with tears. She held tight to her, feeding heat to her. "You don't hate me?"

"A freak accident happened. You were literally giving your life to someone when it went wrong. You're a better person than me." Alice resisted the urge to shrug. It'd make Yukiko uncomfortable. And right now, her job was to keep Yukiko warm as much as she could. "You should tell Kotone and Akane. Own up. Don't let them stay in the dark about what happened."

"You're a mule. You've decided I'm worth your time and won't deviate at all, will you?" Yukiko tilted her face up to look at Alice, her eyes shining with tears. Alice shook her head no.

"For the record, I'm way more of a rabbit than a mule. I have a cute tail and I skip." Alice teased to a giggling Yukiko. "You're a good person, end of story. I'd lavish some other compliments on you, but this is not the time. Which is a shame this is how I saw your whole face for the first time."

"Well." Yukiko's cheeks reddened and she buried her face in Alice's shoulder. "I still think you should ask out Kotone instead."

"Could ask you both. But not the time." Alice held Yukiko to herself, feeling the girl's tension evaporate in the silence that followed. She collapsed onto Alice's lap, a loud snore issuing from her lips. Alice stayed there one more hour, petting her hair. And then, she tucked a pillow under the pretty black hair and headed out. She put the spider lily in a vase when she got back to the dorm.

------

It was different, being on a team where she didn't have leadership. Weird. But relaxing. Captain said when it was her turn to skate onto the circuit, join the pack and claim all the space she could. Well, except Shiho's. Her job was to cede all space to Shiho, so the navigator could dart through the pack before anyone could stop her.

Alice learned pretty quick that speed wasn't her job. Power was. She coasted along, waiting for the jam to start. The whistle blew and Alice took to her position with relish. A jammer had to dodge around and avoid contact. A pivot had to change who they were. A blocker was.

She leaned into the turn, eyes on her girl. Shiho was lingering, watching for an opening. Alice shot her a grin as she refused to stop leaning into the turn. She slammed into an opposing blocker, hip first. That was the legal way to beat people up in this. The girl Alice slammed grunted at her and arced back into the pack. Damage was done, Shiho cut through and was fighting through the middle of the pack.

The other jammer poured on speed as they attempted to cut through the middle of Alice's repositioning arc. She took a breath and leapt to the side, landing in front of them. The jammer slammed into her, half the force of a baby shadow. She turned her head and stuck out her tongue, "Sorry, you'll have to try for round two."

"Like hell." The jammer repositioned on their skate, pushing forward again. Alice inched towards them, but they ducked around, going for the other side. She gave up the point. But Shiho had gotten out front and placed hands on her hips. Jam over. "Damn. You two know how to work together."

"Yeah, she's a good friend." Alice coasted by her water bottle as the pack got set for a final jam. the opposing jammer fanned themself while Alice downed the half frozen water. Shiho frowned at her phone, shoving it into her bag. Alice skidded to a stop by her. "What's up?"

"Just, the usual. Ann. She went nonverbal again yesterday." Shiho groaned before chugging a bottle of water. Alice frowned, laying a hand on her. "I didn't realize I was getting her good days. I don't know what to do."

"Well, keep being there for her. You're not interrogating her, so you're doing good I bet. Let's finish this and then we can go visit her again." Alice gave Shiho a squeeze, the girl grimacing. "You did good for her. I know you did."

"Hard to feel that way when the Chairwoman and Akari both keep asking me about her." Shiho tossed her water bottle down, heading to her line. Alice nodded. "Can you get your girl on that?"

"Yeah, I'll scruff her. Just for you, because you and Ann are cute." Alice wheeled backwards, grinning at her friend. Shiho's blush was half hidden by the flush of exercise. "You got this Shiho."

Shiho shook her head as Alice turned around. this wasn't a lie or a front or a mask. Alice took off at the whistle, slamming the opposing blocker next to her right out of the gate. She was going to make room early and often this time. Shiho was going to have every opportunity to get through this.

And even if Shiho didn't feel it, she trusted Alice and broke through. Alice sped up, catching an opposing blocker on their way to Shiho. The blow sent the Wildcard pinwheeling into one of their teammates, the girl using her shoulder to keep Alice on course. Shiho broke through, the other jammer closed off from following her trail. Shiho spun backwards, hands on her hips. All the points they needed in the bag.

It was a quick parade of handshakes after their second victory of the season. Alice high fived Shiho on the way out of the stadium. "Girl, you think you don't have it and then you just clinch it every time."

"Follow your lead. Captain figured you were good at back line." Shiho smoothed her hair back, glistening with sweat. Alice imagined her hair was like that too, she was one of the girls here. They were all sweaty and bruised up. "You block for me a lot."

"Eh. You still have to do something with it." Alice shrugged as they scooted down to the hospital. Shiho's fingers flexed in and out, time after time. "Talk about it."

"Just, thinking about how she gets real quiet still. How she doesn't feel safe to tell me anything about what she was doing or the pills." Shiho closed her eyes for a moment before looking up towards the sky. "What am I supposed to do to get her to trust me?"

"I don't know. I think the more she feels imprisoned by us, the more she thinks she can't." Alice could only guess Ann's reasoning. It had taken months to even get that Yukiko was taking the same pills. "So, keep working at being sweet at her. Prove you're there for her, nothing else."

"Yeah, I'll try my best." Shiho gave Alice a weak smile as they slapped their visitor stickers on their breasts. Alice let silence linger as they approached the room. Where Akari and Kotone were both outside the door, staring one another down. "Ugh."

"I got this. Kotone, Akari, give the girl some damn space." Alice shouted up the hall, a cascade of dirty looks from nurse and teammate alike responding. But she didn't care if she made them unhappy. She cared if Shiho and Ann got the point. Which the smile on Shiho's face as she slipped into the room gave some indication. Alice jerked her thumb towards the elevator but neither budged. "Whatever you two are doing, it's not helping. You know who's helping? Shiho. Come on."

"No. That girl has answers." Akari crossed her arms. Kotone shoved her. "Hey!"

"You think that it's my fault, you're the one who fought her. Fuck you." Kotone hissed as Alice closed the distance. She snagged both of them, dragging them up. "Hey!"

"I hate to agree with Shiomi, but let go." Akari's pleas fell on Alice's rage deafened ears. She shot them up to the roof, to get the yelling done with sooner. "Alice, I demand you knock this off!"

"Both of you shut up and listen." Alice pushed them onto the roof, sending the elevator down to the first floor. Anything to make it take longer for these two to get back. "Ann isn't gonna say shit to any of you, because she doesn't know you. You're coming in here and making her shut up entirely. She knows Shiho, she knows me, kinda. Let us help get her trust."

"She tried to stop us from fighting the shadow. She has a persona and an Evoker that are independent of SEES. That's the problem." Kotone ripped her arm at last from Alice's vicegrip. "And with Akari here, I'm not convinced she isn't betraying us."

"If anybody is betraying anybody, it's you and the Chairwoman for the rest of us. Why should I trust you? I'm on Ann's side, she just doesn't understand." Akari fired back, squaring up against Kotone. A pulse of annoyance ripped through Alice's skull. She snapped her finger at them. "I thought you were done treating us like dogs."

"I'm treating you like toddlers, keep up. Both of you. Kotone, I agree it's a problem. But showing up every day and interrogating her won't work. And Akari, sure don't trust the Chairwoman she was a pissy bitch I gave Hifumi a choice. But Kotone's on the level."

"How am I somehow more angry now." Akari held her head, jabbing her finger into the call button. "Why are you so sure that Kotone is 'on the level?'"

"Because if she wasn't, she would be reporting to the Chairwoman. Just, let Shiho handle this." Alice paced as Akari walked onto the elevator. Kotone didn't budge. "You leaving?"

"Not with her." Kotone shot back, running a hand through her hair. Alice shrugged as the elevator began its path down. "Since when did you figure out that I was looking into this without the Chairwoman?"

"Since the Chairwoman hasn't been bothering Shiho for info. You didn't tell her about those visits." Alice shrugged as she took a seat next to the fence. Kotone joined her, fists tightened. "Plus, y'know the leadership thing. I am serious about leave it to Shiho. I'd try and talk to Ann, but I want those two to have a chance."

"Okay, sweet but maybe a bad idea. Ann did fight us. I know Shiho said Ann wasn't trying but there's still something there." Kotone tilted her head back to stare at the clouds. "Are you going to admit you're smart yet?"

"I'm enough of a threat, Kotone." Alice shot the girl a grin, only deepening Kotone’s frown. She reached out and flicked Kotone in the head, getting a flurry of defensive slaps in return. "Look. I'm here about you two ruining a maybe good thing. And maybe I'm longshotting some trust on Ann or whatever. But you have never seen her and Shiho being adorable. The girl is fucked up, but she's alive with Shiho."

"She does seem like a breathing corpse sometimes." Kotone sunk lower, laying her chin on her knees. Alice pat her on the back. "What's your game?"

"Honestly, trying to keep everyone from tearing each other apart. Look, Ann isn't a threat. But her friends probably are. Given that Chie tried to mug me for where Ann was and Sakuya carries a gun." Alice felt Kotone stiffen under her hand. Red eyes stared ahead, entire body tensed like a bowstring. Alice pat Kotone again, a little harder to break the spell. "Alright, what was that? And don't say nothing."

"Just... well Sakuya's my dead brother's name. Didn't expect that." Kotone leaned closer to Alice, head on her shoulder. "Shouldn't have gotten to me."

"Look, I have never gotten family in my life, but clearly something there mattered to you." Alice rubbed small circles in Kotone's back. How am I continually in this situation of good close contact with cute girls where it's the wrong ass moment to make a move. "But if you need to lean, I got you."

"Yeah, well, hope it doesn't make Akari jealous." Kotone joked as she wrapped her arms around Alice's midsection. "You're warm. It's good. Can I talk about Sakuya, even though you don't get family?"

"Sure. Go right ahead." Alice laid her hand on Kotone's hip, squeezing her tight. The arms around her squeezed tighter. "Tell me about him, try and sell me on it."

"He was sweet, gentle. He spent most of our childhood content to sit outside and draw. A mix of everything he saw and the rest his imagination running wild." Kotone looked up at Alice, her eyes shining with tears. "I bet he'd have loved to help you pattern dresses. He wasn't good at normal people behavior, but it was endearing. If someone was mean he'd stare at them till they apologized. Especially if it was me being mean or someone was being mean to me. I miss him a lot."

"Sounds like he'd have been a good friend. Shame." Alice fought her instinct to be sarcastic, to say something about how he would have left her or Kotone behind, probably. "Well, what would he have put on my dress?"

"Oh, Feathermen. Definitely Feathermen. Probably would have let you give them bunny ears." Kotone's call out slammed into Alice, making her giggle. "Oh, come on, I saw the bunny design."

"Rude to call a girl out." Alice teased, feeling Kotone relax into her. If it weren't for the wind, she'd have stayed there longer. But it was cutting through her dress and jacket and Kotone wanted her heat. "Well, maybe when we get back, you can help me with a dress design. I need to start another."

"Sounds fun. If it isn't too late."

Chapter Text

"Oh, hello." Hifumi settled into the table next to Alice's at Chagall, a coffee cup balanced on a cardboard box. Alice slid over to sit opposite. "Really? I didn't say you could."

"Figured we could chat more." Alice pulled over her dueling cups of coffee and tea, a smile on her face. Before Hifumi could maneuver anymore, Alice rescued the other girl's coffee cup from tumbling the next time the box moved. "And don't worry, I'm not asking you anything about that night. Wanted to chat with you more."

"Very well. I didn't expect that honestly. Especially after you invited yourself to the table with me." Hifumi blew across the top of her coffee, holding it between both hands with care. Alice curled her fingers around her tea cup's handle, raising it to her lips. "What did you want to talk about?"

"Well, your deepest secrets of course." Alice fluttered her eyelashes at Hifumi, the girl shooting up straight. Alice giggled as she set her cup down. "And by that, want to tell me what's in the box?"

"Oh, this?" Hifumi toyed with the edge of the box, lifting the cardboard lid up and away. A shogi set lay within, the edges of the wooden tiles worn down by years of use. Alice leaned forward to get a better look. Bits of paint lined the edge of the board, a few flecks of it lining the bottom of the box. "This was my father's set."

"Huh." Alice leaned on her hand, studying Hifumi's face. The girl was impassive as she lifted the board and set it on the table. "To be honest, I don't get family. Like I objectively know people are close to them, but I never got that."

"Really? He was very important to me." Hifumi went through the motions, laying out the board. Alice's eyes flicked to each precise movement that Hifumi went through to finish the set up. "He's why I know how to play this, why I think the way I do. He taught me that I have to make time for my hobbies or I will be miserable. I've... not been good at that in the past while."

"I've only started having normal hobbies myself recently." Alice sipped the dregs of her tea, stacking her half full coffee cup within it. Hifumi tapped the side of the board facing Alice. "I don't play well. For the record."

"That's fine. I'm more interested in the conversation during paly. If you're going to sit here with me, talk to me, least you can do is play is me." Hifumi tapped her chin, considering. "While I figure out my opener, why don't you get family?"

"Family's something that leaves you, abandons you in my experience." Alice grumbled, watching as Hifumi began her advance. Alice slammed a piece forward without hesitation. "Don't get pressured to go fast. I'm an idiot."

"Don't think you're an idiot." Hifumi's finger rested on a piece, scooting it back and forth in the square. Alice shook her head. "No, you're not. Not the way you talk. What do you mean, family leaves you? Also, Advance Spear Point Formation."

"Parents dead at eight. And then not a single damn Hiiragi wanted me. Despite the fact I rule." Alice answered Hifumi's move, her position crumbling already. "So, family sucks."

"Hiiragi sucks. Other than Alice. Pursuing Legion." Hifumi retorted as she forced a retreat from Alice. "One example is not all."

"Is that so? Not me arguing for you to join, but it is a funny example." Alice didn't want to admit she knew what Hifumi might have seen. She didn't know if Hifumi would understand, she didn't know about how Yukiko's persona went berserk. Alice didn't want to think about if that's what her persona had done all those months ago. Hifumi's finger left her piece. "Sorry."

"No, you aren't wrong. I cannot bring myself to join you is all. I only did it because you were in danger in the moment." Hifumi grabbed another tile turning it over and over in her hand. Alice finished her coffee, waiting for Hifumi to finish her off. "If I could trust that power more, maybe. But it feels like something that needs to be approached with caution. Cause, well, I saw things last year. Constricting Siege."

"I remember. I'm serious about the irony." Alice slipped her piece to the side, hoping that this would circumvent the tightening noose of Hifumi's pieces. "So, sell me on family if they're so great. Cause I'd counter with some other parents I met."

"Well, I can say my mom's good. It was rough for a while, after dad died. But, we were both upset." Hifumi's position had a hole. Alice wasn't sure if Hifumi noticed it, herself, but she went for an aggressive act. Hifumi raised an eyebrow, humming as she advanced, heedless of Alice's small resistance. "She's been getting better. And dad, well, he was the other person to not rush me for second guessing. So, thanks."

"If I weren't extremely against being thought of as masc, there'd be a joke there about being your dad." Alice tried to attack what was now Hifumi's backline. That's when she lost, Hifumi's position ending the game. "Good game, I guess."

"It was. The conversation was the best part. I... well, I'm glad I got to share what was good about my dad that way." Hifumi began clean up, looking over at her coffee cup. Her almost full coffee cup. "Oh no. I got distracted."

"You drink. I'll clean. And thanks, the conversation was nice. To at least challenge me on things."

------

"Hey." Alice took the furthest seat from Ann, blue eyes tracking the movements as she did. A disposable camera sat on the bedside table next to her. Ann picked it up, cranking it to the next exposure. "Surprised those still exist."

"Gas stations develop them." Ann answered, looking at Alice through the viewfinder. "Here to ask questions? I thought you were against that?"

"Any questions I have aren't going to be about Chie and Sakuya. Not even Yukiko or the pills. Would be a lie if I said I didn't want answers about the last two most." Alice leaned on her hand, tracking Ann's slow and methodical movements around the room. "But, the questions I'd ask are a lot more mundane. Like, why photography?"

"It freezes the world." Ann answered, angling the camera in slow motion. "She had to be right that taking my time would help."

"Shiho's a smart girl. You make her more confident I think." Alice smiled as Ann's shutter closed, a mechanical click echoing in the quiet room. "What did you take a picture of?"

"Your shadow. You look larger than life that way. Inhuman. Like me." Ann's thumb rested on the shutter, her fingernails cut short by teeth. At least that was Alice's guess since they were uneven. She dug in her purse, pulling out a little cosmetic kit. She tossed it on the bed. "What's this?"

"Well, if I'm inhuman like you, you might as well groom like me." Alice tilted her head as Ann unzipped it, going for the nail file. "Knew it."

"Shut up." Ann fired back, a hint of a smile on her face. She worked the file across her fingernails. "You're not worried I'll stab you. Or break out."

"You wouldn't see Shiho anymore." Alice caught the hint of blush on Ann's face. Kinda like shooting fish in a barrel. "But also, like, whatever you got going on is big. You feel trapped. I kinda know that feeling. How I felt for a long time. They wanted me to be a boy. They wanted me to follow their rules. They wanted a perfect angel. I'm not so good at that."

"Considering you're the other person who bothers being kind to me, I don't know about that." Ann's work on her fingers was fast, efficient. Whoever she was before this, this was a norm. Ann dropped the file in the bag, zipped it and sent it to the floor. "Don't want you thinking I was throwing it at your head."

"Yeah, well, I wouldn't have been offended." Alice snatched it from its landing point, the rattling tools inside the same weight as before. "Not even the doctors?"

"I don't talk to them. They won't give me my suppressants." Ann fell backwards onto the bed, squeezing her arm. Her fingers wrapped around her forearm, short of a bandage's edge. "It's going to be bad if I don't."

"You know when it's going to be bad?" Alice hated that she couldn't help herself from asking. Ann shrugged. "What do you mean then?"

"It's always bad when it happens. I can't keep myself balanced anymore, then Hypermnestra turns her attention to me." Ann curled into herself and Alice's heart panged. She pulled out her phone, Yukiko's contact highlighted still. "I thought you weren't going to ask."

"Well, I'm going to make it up to you. Hopefully. I saw what it looked like. I'm doing something about it and the doctors can eat my ass." Alice paced as she texted: Hey, need your help. Ann needs a suppressant. She's anxious and thinks it's going to go wrong tonight.

"What do you mean?" Ann's eyes traced Alice as she paced, the blue eyes shining. Alice's phone buzzed an affirmative. "I'm not used to asking, so answer me."

"Yeah, well, you did ask me. I'm getting you what you need. Our secret, okay?" Alice ran her hands through her hair, shoving it back. Ann's eyes crossed. "And if you ask why, it's because I care if you get boiled alive."

"I see. I... didn't expect that. To get help to poison myself." Ann ran her hand down her leg, lingering at the ankle. Alice paused, looking at her. "They're poison. That's why they work to calm the persona. If I took too many, no more Ann. Tempting."

"Okay, why didn't--" Alice's blood was on fire with rage that Yukiko left that out. "How long?"

"Couple years. Long enough. When I feel like making it." Ann admitted, curling up closer to herself. Alice let out a sigh. "I feel more like it now. But. Sometimes I want to be calm forever."

"You know, I wish I understood all this persona stuff better now. So I could figure out something new for you. But for... now this has to do I guess." Alice looked around the room, the environment changing in her mind's eye. This wasn't a place for Ann to recover anymore. All the equipment wasn't meant to give her a chance to live her life outside of here. It was her tomb to be, now or later. "Don't break Shiho's heart."

"Bad at promises." Ann looked to the side as Yukiko entered after knocking. "And that's where the anger came from."

"I don't know what you mean, Ann." Yukiko set a small glass jar next to the ailing persona user, clutching her kimono tighter to herself. Ann opened it, taking one of the three pills inside. Alice glared at her. "Oh. Alice, I can explain."

"I'm sure you can. I knew they had side effects, you didn't mention--" Alice cut herself off as she slipped the suppressants into the paper around the disposable camera. She pocketed the glass jar. "I'm not doing this in front of Ann. I hope they help. Ration them while I try to figure this out."

Ann shrugged, her energy gone at the flaring of Alice's rage. Yukiko wandered out of the room, leading Alice away from the hospital. Her veil was affixed again, a mask against Alice and the world. Alice figured she hated it now. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"Would it change your feelings? No matter what way I pushed you away, you didn't. I can pick living with short term pain or living with an unstable self. I picked the former. I almost picked neither." Yukiko refused to meet Alice's gaze as they approached the shrine. Alice's heart ached to hear that, because despite all her anger, Yukiko was still here. And she almost wasn't. And wouldn't in time. "You're forthright, yet silent."

"Because I'm trying to get what is going through your head. I don't want to give up on you, everything I've done to try and reach out and you find new ways to try and slap my hands. And it isn't for a good reason." Alice's hands flew up in annoyance as Yukiko froze in front of the jungle gym. "You can't punish yourself into being a better person or whatever you think you're achieving. You're just making me and you miserable!"

"Hurting you, that hurts more than anything the pills do to me. The disappointment in your eyes, the way those endless pools of hazel try to draw me back. That's what gets me." Yukiko admitted, taking a step closer to Alice, her teeth chattering. Alice wanted to grab her, hold her tight. Squeeze these damned ideas from her. "And time after time you come back. To the girl who will wind up like that man one day, a sack of skin clinging to the bones."

"Or you could try something else. We could try to figure something out. I have healing personas. We could try and keep you together. You're a good person, you had a mistake while healing someone with your own body, you idiot!" Alice took Yukiko's hands, the skin as frigid as last time. A part of Alice wanted to feed Yukiko her heat, feed her warmth to keep her alive. Yukiko giggled. "What's so funny?"

"You're so mad and you hold my hands with such delicate grace. It's adorable. And maybe that's flippant given my condition, but, I didn't hide it to push you away when you found out." Yukiko admitted as she stepped closer. "I did it because I thought you might be afraid to let me continue taking the medicine. But you didn't snatch them from Ann."

"Look, I want people safe. I want you safe. Like I said, I want to find a solution. So you can stay around." Alice raised Yukiko's hands towards her lips, watching Yukiko's eyes flutter at the feeling of her warm breath. "I want you around. Weird and beautiful you. Because even without the mourner chic, you're fun and you know what you want to look like. You know you, even if it's foolish sometimes."

"And you are a desert wind, warm and sudden and violent in the ways I need to uproot me." Yukiko admitted, standing on tip toe to approach Alice's height. "It's why I found myself telling you what I have. Coming to you, even though I kept locking myself away. Letting Akane back in. Trying to help you. It makes me want to try and find what I can do to help, not like I used to. I can't be like that. But I can be something, right?"

"You are something, damn it." Alice felt herself relax at Yukiko giggling like that. She chanced it, kissing Yukiko's knuckle. The girl sighed, leaning her head closer to Alice's. "You are all I said. And more. You have depths I want to know. I want to know how you made your art. I want to see your process. I want to hear you explain every choice. I want to know you."

"Then keep that up." Yukiko egged Alice on, each of her knuckles receiving a donation of Alice's warmth. When one hand was finished, Alice let it drop and jumped to the next. Yukiko removed her veil, her lips parted in anticipation. Alice was of two minds, Yukiko was who she wanted to kiss the moment they met. And she wanted to have that now. But it would be fun to give Yukiko a taste of the waiting. She flipped Yukiko's hand, kissing her wrist. She gave it a nip with her teeth to Yukiko's delighted gasp. "Going to savor me?"

"Oh, you have no idea." Alice grinned as she pressed another kiss to Yukiko's skin, her body fighting the freezing poison bit by bit. She fought to keep Yukiko from turning to ice. She didn't want Yukiko frozen in place. That wouldn't be fun. Yukiko shuddered and Alice knew it wasn't the cold this time. she knew it was her. She went for the kill, pulling Yukiko to her. Face to face they swayed together for a moment. She leaned in and she found that all of Yukiko's heat had pooled in one place, the lips. They were warm and their roughness only made it seem all the more that Yukiko wanted to cling to her. Didn't want to let go. And it wasn't the past, but a future she clung to in that moment.

Alice wanted it to last forever. But that wouldn't be a future. But she did make sure to leave Yukiko's skin marked with teeth and lipstick before taking her home.

------

Alice sat on the roof of SEES, one hour until stillness. One hour until that wasn't the truth. One hour until more Shadows. And then, Yukiko had wanted to see her. She hadn't said why.

"What are you thinking about?" Kuon had offered to make getting down faster. And Alice had an idea of what that would be and was more than happy for that. Alice tilted her head back to look at the android, smiling at her. A small one. But that was a grin in Kuon’s expressions.

"That time is a funny thing. In one hour, we're going to be in an extra hour. You and I will move around and fight and age that much more than the rest of the world. And then everyone will catch up with us. We'll save lives. And I might even catch Yukiko early if this is fast enough." Alice pumped her legs in nervous excitement, torn between the shininess of what was going on with Yukiko and the chance the conversation would be serious. "Then, you know, wondering if Sakuya and Chie are going to try something or if that would break their precious calm."

"From what you have said about Chie, I don't believe she has qualified as calm." Kuon walked till she stood on the edge of the building, following Alice's gaze out to the horizon. Her white coat lit up the night as it fluttered to show off all her mechanical underpinnings. "Why are you attached to Yukiko? And why is it different to how I am attached to you?"

"Well, the second question is the easy one. All three of us are different. I'm pretty attached to you, you know that. You join me on a lot of my excursions because I like you being there." Alice focused on the bay, the infinite stars in its reflection. She wondered if that was something she could sew together, all the stars of the sky. "And why am I attached to her the way I am? Well, she knows what she's about. She commits to who she is. And I respect that a lot. Helps she's pretty."

Kuon didn't move or say anything, those olive green eyes shining in the moonlight. Alice let the silence linger, it'd be against what she had praised Hifumi for to break it. Kuon took a step over to Alice, lowering with arms out. "Knows who she is. I understand. You have pushed forward that I don't understand who I am. It is almost the Still Hour."

"You're right, it is. Well, no time to keep them waiting." Alice let Kuon scoop her up, the drop to the ground gentler than any four stories should have been. Shiho stood on the porch, Evoker in her holster and worry on her face. Akari and Junpei were seated in the grass, their heads snapping up at the dramatic entrance. "Thank you, thank you, but we have a time table coming up. Where's Kotone and Akane?"

"Kotone got a call and disappeared about five minutes ago. Akane went after her." Junpei rubbed the back of his head, a grimace on his face. Of course. Why would it be easy. Nothing was easy. Ever. Alice sighed as she motioned to the bikes. "What's up?"

"Kinda wish someone had told me. Alright, we've gotta move fast. Shiho, please try and reach those two. Something stinks." Alice's blood boiled at Kotone's hypocrisy. She didn't want them to fuck around back with the High Priestess. She was right to and yet, here she was fucking around.

"I will. I'm sorry, Alice." Shiho twisted back and forth as Alice scooted her bike closer. Navigator's shoulder in hand she gave her a shake. "What?"

"You didn't fuck up. She's mad about Kotone and Akane. Right?" Junpei hit the nail on the head. Alice pat the girl on the head right before the Still Hour hit. "Well, where do the visions say to go?"

"They say... public library, two Shadows." Shiho sifted through the bowl in her hands, her persona shimmering. Alice didn't waste any time, making a break for it. Junpei, Akari and Kuon were hot on her heels, the vapor trail of Shiho following them. "There's a lot of other signals moving around Iwatodai right now too. Six of them. Two sets of two and the other two separate from everyone else. Guessing one of those sets is Kotone and Akane."

"Find out, before Shiomi gets us in trouble." Akari growled as she pulled up alongside Alice. "Still think she's on the level?"

"Of being an idiot, yes. Not a traitor, get over yourself." Alice didn't have the patience for this. She needed Akari to get her head in the game. "Focus, we're a block out."

"Alice is right, petty arguments are best saved for after the Shadow." Kuon's sass put the nail in Akari's coffin on arguing. She skidded to a stop in front of the library, the building covered in scaffolding made of masks. "I believe we have found them."

"Sure did, Kuon. Alright, well, that's a lot of masks." Junpei pulled out his Evoker, looking around. The scaffolding supported a Ferris Wheel that was suspended between two inky ropes. "Hey, like what the hell?"

"Scaffolding is one shadow and the wheel's the other. Kotone is yelling something about her brother and Akane's trying to calm her down." Shiho reported as the scaffolding broke off the library, chunks of concrete falling away in its wake. "I don't know where it's going."

"Nowhere is where. Akari, keep Kuon and Junpei fast. You two will take the legs." Alice spun out her Evoker, shoving it under her chin. The Wheel of Fortune dipped down towards her. She didn't hesitate, firing her Evoker. "Moirai."

The scissors of fate caught the wheel, stretching its bungee shadow support as the legs moved forward. The after images of Heimarmene filled Junpei's sails, his sword slicing at the supporting ankle. The steps continued with little abatement. "Not working, girls!"

"Adjusting. Merkhet." Kuon's Evoker fired, the scale of time swinging in a circle around her head. Nuclear fire launched towards the leg, shattering it. The wheel in Moirai's grip began to spin and bounce. "Alice, this is inadvisable to maintain."

"Of course it is, but she's going to do it anyway." Akari's crossbow struck one of the bungees that was manipulating the shadow, making it reverberate. "What are you two waiting for?"

"An invitation." Alice grunt as she spun to the side, releasing her persona. She placed the gun to her head again, threads tangling in the spokes of the wheel as it landed on the lawn, digging a furrow in the ground. The mud it flung up would hit the people a few meters away. But it was worth them being alive. "Junpei, burn the other support."

"On it!" Junpei and Hermes rained fire down in a haphazard mirror of Kuon. It didn't have to be clean, it had to work. And the threads were burning away, the wheel's rotation slowing. "Hey, Akari, mind juicing this up some?"

"Very well." Akari sighed, a smile on her face as her wind fed into Junpei's flames. The exploding conflagrations tore apart the support. And then the spokes of the wheel began to splinter under the stranglehold that Alice had on them. "At least we didn't need them."

"That's all well and good, but Kotone and Akane got engaged by one of the signals. The green jacket girl. A blue haired guy is at the hospital, probably trying to get to Ann." Shiho's voice tittered in panic. Alice groaned as she hopped on her bike. "Alice, please."

"I know, we're going. Junpei, Akari, go support Kotone and Akane. They need a healer. Kuon, we need to move." Alice took off, not bothering to wait for confirmation. She didn't know what Sakuya was going to do, but it was a problem. The main question was if Ann would be willing. "Shiho, what about the other signals."

"They convened, they're not far from the hospital. Looks like Hifumi and Yukiko." Shiho's information made Alice's head hurt. What were they doing out? Yukiko was supposed to wait and Hifumi didn't want in. "Alice, what do you want?"

"I wanted tonight to be over. Can you please ask those two to get to safety for me, I don't know what's going on and I want them safe." Alice was thankful that the hospital at least wasn't far. And that Kuon could keep up with her, no problems.

"Ye-yeah. Akari and Junpei aren't far from Kotone and Akane." Shiho's voice trembled through the mists. Alice couldn't blame her, not when her heart was a million miles a minute. Not when every part of her was worried that Yukiko and Hifumi would get dragged into this shitshow.

Sakuya shrugged at her and Kuon's approach, his gun in hand. "Huh. Knew you all could find the Shadows. Didn't know it extended to me. Inconvenient."

"Inconvenient is kind of my thing. What are you doing?" Alice didn't think he would tell her anything. She leaned the bike against a building, slow and calm. The opposite of everything she was. What Kuon was, the android staring at him with a placid look.

"I am offering a choice, to find the path of calm. One way or another." Sakuya thumbed the action on his black pistol, his eyes and lips in the same permanent state of supposed disinterest. He was as fake as Chie. "If you come closer, I'll shoot."

"That's a threat." Kuon didn't wait, sharging up the street. Her bladed yo-yos flew through the air. And then Sakuya shattered the world with a word.

"Hypnos." A coriolis of downy feathers fluttered in front of him, an eye at the center of the whirl. They absorbed the light around them and all the momentum to Kuon's attack halted, the yo-yo's falling to the ground. Sakuya shrugged, aiming the gun at Alice, her Evoker to her head. "Would you like to make the same mistake?"

"No, a different one." Alice fired her Evoker, the bullet ripping through the air towards her. Kuon's arm caught it, a dent forming in the metal with a thunderous clang. Moirai's threads snaked around Hypnos towards Sakuya. He jumped back in a lazy arc, his persona intervening again to lock the threads in the air. "Kuon, circle him."

"I will not. He will have free rein to hurt you." Kuon moved in front of Alice. The angle was good for keeping her alive, but it wouldn't stop him if he could repel everything from the front. "You will need a new plan."

"Well, then we're stalling." Alice spit on the ground, it was rare for Kuon to fight back in an argument. She'd just have to adapt. "You can't hurt us. And we can't hurt you. Guess that's stasis."

"It's not. You try and try. It's pointless, you know? You think you have the power to affect the world, but you don't." Sakuya's bored voice didn't stop that he was taunting her. Or that there was movement behind him, a flash of Hifumi's chevron dress in the alley. "Oh, more of my sister's coterie."

"Hifumi, get back!" Alice shouted, hoping it would distract Sakuya as she rushed towards him. His persona pulsed again, making her limbs heavy. She pushed against the force, Kuon at her side. Hifumi staggered back into another person in all black. The gun fired.

Alice screamed as Hifumi's stomach lit up in red, her dress soaking through. She fired her Evoker, adding Moirai to the forces bearing down on the weight of stillness. Hifumi collapsed onto Yukiko's feet. The girl's eyes were wide in shock as Sakuya fled. Alice stumbled as Hypnos followed Sakuya, the repelling field sending her flying. She felt her ankle wrench to the side.

Kuon turned with more grace taking off after him. Alice's Evoker flew from her hands to Yukiko's feet. Hifumi's breath was ragged, her eyes rolling back.

"I'm sorry, Alice. I wanted to explain myself, but, well, she was wandering alone." Yukiko's voice was calm as she picked up the Evoker. She placed it to her head. Alice's muscles ached as she pushed herself up, looking into Yukiko's eyes. "I owe her a chance to live."

"Yukiko, please. We can help her, I can staunch the bleeding or something. Shiho, get me a healer!" Alice wished she hadn't torn up her ankle as it sent her back to the ground. Yukiko frowned. "What if you do too much?"

"Well, it'd be unfortunate. But, well, she'll explain I hope. Love you." Yukiko tried her best to smile. She was awful at it. The Evoker fired. "Asclepius."

Alice couldn't get a response out as a serpent shot from Yukiko's mouth. It bit onto Hifumi's wound, the blood pooling away. Yukiko's body went ashen, her eyes never leaving Alice's. Hifumi gasped, writhing around on the ground. The persona shattered and Yukiko broke eye contact. She fell.

Alice laid down and tried to ignore the sounds of the dead brought back to life. The Still Hour ended. The world returned to motion. Someone put her on a stretcher. An oxygen mask sat on Yukiko's face as she disappeared into the hospital's depths.

Alice didn't know if that was enough to quell her heart and how she hadn't managed to say what she should have back. She was supposed to act and she failed. She fucked it up.

She wished she had Asclepius. That she could give Yukiko the kiss of life she deserved. But since when did life give people what they deserved? Everything since April was a falsehood. An obscuring of that truth. Good things were something that went away.

Chapter Text

"You're awake." Akane snapped up from staring at her lap, her face contorted in a frown. Alice flipped her off and turned over to look out the window of her hospital room. Someone had put a brace on her foot. "Okay, yeah. I can't make up for the fact we missed the Shadow. I can explain it but, that doesn't matter."

"No. It doesn't." Alice hated that it was sunny outside. That there was sunlight when she wanted nothing more than to curl up and be nothing. The world wasn't full of light. "You can apologize by fixing Yukiko."

"We... don't know if that's possible. Her brain activity is strange according to the doctor. One moment active, the next almost gone." Akane laid her hand on Alice's shoulder and the Wildcard drove her elbow backwards. She struck Akane's stomach, making her grunt. "Alice."

"Don't try to console me. You should have told us what was going on. He wasn't your shithead brother." Alice closed her eyes, trying to not look at the clock on the wall. She didn't want to count how long it had been since Yukiko did that. "So, you should have had your head on straight."

"Alice, you don't know what I was doing last night. You don't know what Kotone was going through! Wouldn't you be torn up if your supposedly dead brother called you?" Akane's rage was beginning to match Alice's own. Which was good. Made it fair.

"Torn up? No. Fuck my family. Fuck her family too. I'd have told them to kick rocks for fucking off." Alice snarled at Akane, the brunette girl standing with fists up as she turned to face her again. "You're gonna fight me?"

"If it's going to get you to listen. I couldn't keep my head on straight, because I was trying to keep Kotone's head on. And right now, I want to fuck up her brother too. Yukiko was my best friend before you ever knew her." Akane bounced from foot to foot, a mocking motion. Alice grabbed the nurse call button and hurled it at Akane. The girl punched it out of the air. "You think you're the only one fucked up from last night? You don't even know how everybody is doing!"

"I have an idea on how everyone is doing, it's shitty. But I think that I'm allowed to be goddamn upset that two of my teammates abandoned us without saying anything. That the girl I love fucked herself up because we didn't have enough help!" Alice grabbed the styrofoam cup on the table and hurled that next, drenching Akane in water. The girl sputtered and socked her in the face. Alice reeled for a moment, feeling her body suffuse with rage. "That's more like it, fucking fight me to prove that last night was worth it."

"It wasn't, but I'm not going to act like we didn't have a reason." Akane stopped Alice's punch with the palm of her hand, pushing her back onto the bed. "You need to listen for once. I'm explaining us, so you understand!"

"I don't need to understand!" Alice screamed, rolling out of the bed. She struggled to her feet, with the help of the bed as Akane took a step back. That's when the door opened, pinning Akane behind it. Junpei peeked in, his hat gone. Alice stumbled back, leaning on the bed. "Junpei, you interrupted a conversation."

"Sounded more like a fight. And judging from how Akane is kicking at this door, I think it's still one. Hey, knock it off. Alice needs rest. Go home or something." Junpei braced himself against the door, keeping Akane in place until it stilled. "You made your point so loud the nurse’s station heard you."

"Fine." Akane split from the room, leaving Alice to collapse onto the bed. The adrenaline faded, leaving jagged lines of pain in her leg. Junpei helped reposition the blankets on her, picking up the debris that Alice had flung.

"So, shouldn't bother asking how you're doing, huh?" Junpei joked and Alice wanted to hit him. She settled for rolling her eyes, sinking into the pillows. "Use your words, girl. Before you try to commit homicide again."

"Oh, I'm going to anyway. On that Sakuya piece of shit." Alice crossed her arms, closing her eyes in pain. Junpei grunted. "I fucked up. I should have sent less people that direction. One more person and we could have cut Sakuya off before he shot Hifumi."

"You had no clue. And since you knew that Kotone and Akane were caught up by that girl, you made a call. That's about the one thing I know that happened last night." Junpei slumped into the chair, pulling out Alice's make up kit and setting it on the side table. "I don't know if you made the wrong call or not. I don't know if you could have made the right call."

"That." Alice paused, her eyes watering. Junpei frowned. "What."

"Sometimes the deck's rigged. There was a gun involved and it could have hit anybody, just kinda all whenever." Junpei shrugged, running his fingers through his hair. "It's stupid to think about I guess. Cause it's not going to change it. Sucks that it happened."

"Yeah. It does." Alice knew Junpei had a gift for understatement but this was pulling out all the stops. But he was calm in a way she hadn't expected. Attentive but not overbearing. "The fuck am I going to do now?"

"Be pissed off. I'm not telling you to not be. I'm pissed for you. Shiho wants to shower you in praise when she sees you." Junpei joked and that made a smile fight through Alice’s face for a moment. "I don't think there's a good answer for what to do right now. Other than hope the docs say some sorta miracle. Want me to give you a piggyback ride through Logos to beat up Shadows?"

"No. But thanks for the offer." Alice snorted, hating that he got that from her. Or enjoying it. She couldn't tell which. It was a war of her emotions about every bit of joy that slipped through. "Where the fuck is Kotone? Or Kuon? Akari?"

"Uh, Kotone’s waiting to figure out if she's going to die if she walks in here. And Kuon is guarding the door. She feels bad about chasing Sakuya. I think." Junpei's face twitched as Alice scrunched the blanket. "You probably need to talk to them. Akari's sulking at the dorm, she's next on my list."

"Have fun with her." Alice didn't mean to be bitter, but the words flew from her mouth as stinging darts. She was poison right now. Junpei flinched. "Seriously. I just, can't be nice. Not right now."

"Yeah, that tracks. Look. I'm here for you. Your old pal, Junpei right? No matter what, that's what I'm here to do." Junpei extended his fist. Alice made her self tap his knuckles as gentle as she could. "You know, being a hero kinda sucks. But you're still good at it."

"Well, I have the tragedy down it seems. Dead parents. Comatose girlfriend." Alice admitted, grabbing the makeup bag. She set out the mirror and got a look at herself. Her face was bruised, covered in cuts. A few stray hairs had grown on her face. She groaned and dug for the razor. Junpei busied himself in the bathroom, getting her hot water. "Thanks."

"Save them for me, maybe I can supplement my beard." Junpei's joke was shitty, but it pierced Alice. She dropped the razor onto the bed, giggling as she lost control of her body to the cascading emotions. Junpei grinned at her as he rescued it. "Okay, homerun."

"Tell yourself that." Alice wiped away the tear under her eye, betraying herself. She cleaned her face of its damned misplaced hair, one swipe of the razor at a time. "When you send Kotone in, do her a favor. Take away what I can throw."

"Yeah, I gotcha." Junpei started collecting things while Alice stared at a tube of black lipstick. Unopened. She'd gotten it to mark Yukiko. She zipped the bag. Pointless right now. "You ready?"

"Probably won't be ever for the first one. So rip off the band-aid." Alice handed the makeup bag to Junpei. He leaned in and hugged her. "Hey, did I say to hug me?"

"Consider it pay back for shoving me up against Logos walls way back." Junpei let the hug linger for an extra second. Alice didn't fight him, because it was the right thing. Even if she felt awful. He was trying. "I'll be back by tomorrow. Sooner if you call."

"Go on, send me my victim." Alice wiggled up in the bed, setting her gaze on the door. Junpei gave her a salute, closing the door behind him. Then silence other than the sound of the machines of a hospital all whirring and beeping in an off beat rhythm. The signs of life continuing, an erratic cacophony.

She hated it, because she couldn't believe it.

Alice didn't see Kotone first, instead the hot take out bag she held in front of her face. She set it on the bed, lifting the flap. A pizza. Which when Alice hadn't eaten in who knows how long, was welcome.

Kotone's frowning face, hiding in the hood of her jacket was not. She slouched against the wall, her red eyes trailing the ground. Away from the girl in the bed. Alice dragged the pizza up to her lap, pushing the lid back. Spinach and chicken. "At least you got that right. Say whatever you're going to say."

"Funny thing. I don't have a clue what to say. Considering I spent all that effort to see my brother and he didn't even show. Because he fucked up everything. Shiomi curse." Kotone looked towards the window, away from Alice. She bit into a slice of the pizza, the cheese melted to perfection. "And I fucked things up for Yukiko. More than I probably thought. She said to leave her alone. So I did. Dumb, stupid."

"Abandonment." Alice said between bites, her glare locked onto Kotone. The girl curled in towards herself. "She needed you. She needed more than me and Akane flailing at her. Maybe you would have known about the pills. Maybe you would have seen Sakuya give her those fucking things."

"Maybe. Maybe I'm a fucking idiot. Maybe I hoped that if I gave her space she'd come back. Figure it out." Kotone made fists around the cuffs of her hoodie. Alice grumbled as she ripped off another hunk of the pizza. "I can't make this up to you or her, can I?"

"To me, not right now. To her, that's her call. If she ever gets to." Alice couldn't help the dagger. Kotone flinched. "I can't coddle you right now. I don't have the energy to say anything but what's on my mind."

"Well, I didn't come here to not get yelled at. I fucked up. I know this. Pretty well." Kotone admitted, scooting towards the window. Alice gnawed on the crust of her slice, her eyes digging into Kotone. "Alice. I. He's my brother. I. I'm responsible for him."

"No. Not that." Alice ripped out another slice, tearing into it with gusto. Kotone's eyes lifted towards her. "You abandoned Yukiko. Your fault. You ditched without talking to us. Your fault. Sakuya being a shitty attempted murderer. His fault."

"But. Okay. Sure. He did it. But he had that opportunity because I trusted him. He disappears, lets me think he's dead and I don't think twice about trying to find him." Kotone's fingers skated along the cuff of her hoodie. Alice mowed through her slice, feeling some of her energy start to return. "So, him having that chance, my fault. I trusted him because I thought family was worth it."

"He used to be, per your words. I just wish you had fucking told me, do you get that? That's what I wanted. Because if I knew, we could have talked! Figured it out." Alice slammed the pizza box shut, spun it around and nudged it towards Kotone. "Eat a slice."

"Not hungry." Kotone's stomach rumbled, an instant betrayal. Alice nudged it closer. "Fucked up."

"Yeah. Fucked up. Kotone. I'm mad. But I'm sure of why." Alice closed her eyes, inspecting that she still had eyelids. "So, figure out why you're mad at yourself. And then fix something. Not what I'll ask for, you can't do that. Probably."

"Yeah. I can't." Kotone chewed, the pizza box pushed back against Alice's leg. She grabbed another slice, the two of them communicating in the sound of angry chewing for the next few seconds. Kotone swallowed. "I'll... not make it up to you. But I need to look into his supposed death. Find out what's going on."

"Yeah, you do. And. Before I kick his ass for what he did, I'll make him answer you. Because he shouldn't have fucked you over." Alice cut off the 'I guess.' Kotone hurt enough. She hurt enough. "Get me?"

"Perfectly." Kotone walked to the door, cracking it open. "Hey, uh, doctor should bring you crutches soon. Want Kuon?"

"Yes, can't even make a joke about how I want her." Alice pulled the pizza box onto her lap, the warmth soaking into her. Kotone traded Kuon, the android entering with rigid motions and Alice's purse bouncing against her hip. More rigid than she had in months. "Kuon. Come on. You can't fake it and I don't have the energy for it. No wonder Junpei said you felt bad. You tried to stop him. Your persona can't heal."

"You wanted Yukiko to be safe. She was important to you." Kuon had tuned down her voice and it was killing Alice. She groaned as she chewed on the crust. "I should have removed the Evoker from her hand."

"No. She'd have been pissed I think. I wanted her to listen but not. And... I wish I knew why they were ever there. But here we are." Alice tapped the side of her head, feeling her blood burning. "So, don't beat yourself up for last night. You probably kept me from getting shot, let's be honest. So, you made the right call."

"I see." Kuon's shoulders shifted, moving towards a more relaxed hanging at her side. She walked over to the bed, picking up Alice with care. "You like when I do this."

"Usually, yes. I am going to have to use these crutches when they arrive. So, let me get some practice." Alice leaned her head on Kuon's shoulder for a second, taking some solace in the contact. "Thanks for not arguing."

"You had solid logic. I know it's important to keep you safe. You knew what Yukiko wanted and I could trust that." Kuon didn't put Alice down, not till they arrived at the nurses' station. The Wildcard leaned on it while Kuon adjusted the crutches. Alice grunted with each step as she made her way to the elevator. Inside, Kuon continued. "Why did you not want her to stop? If it would hurt her?"

"Because she knew what she wanted. She wanted to make sure that Hifumi was safe. That she felt like it would balance out something is less important to me than her picking her path. It hurt but it was the right thing, to keep someone alive." Alice explained as she stared at the floor buttons. "Take me to Yukiko's room."

"I see. Should people be allowed to pursue self destruction if that is their wish?" Kuon's words hit Alice like a truck She let out a long sigh in response. "Did I take the wrong lesson?"

"A little bit. It was that she was helping someone. A good person." Alice crutched her way down the hall, Kuon's hand helping guide her and the other preserving the pizza. Past closed door after closed door. The nurses didn't look up at their passing. The strikes of the crutches on the ground were the only noise in Alice's ears. She knew there had to be EKG's running on the floor. But she could drown it out. She could put it off. "Here?"

"Here." Kuon confirmed, pushing open the door for her. The shape of Yukiko laid on the bed. Alice couldn't tell if it was her there. Was it Yukiko if the mask made her breathe? Was it Yukiko if she needed a tube to eat? Was it Yukiko if she wore a stupid patient gown? Was the real Yukiko somewhere else, waiting to come back to her body? Was it Yukiko if she never head that Alice loved her back?

"I... don't know if you'll hear this. If you're in there or somewhere else. I... haven't heard from Hifumi, but I get it." Alice took out the makeup bag from the purse, balancing on her crutches. Kuon tilted her head but didn't say anything. She's polite. Alice selected the lipstick. "You love me, which shocks me. One thing to like me, find me pretty or sexy. But you saw me as worth your heart. And... you were more than worth mine. I love you."

Alice ran the lipstick across her lips, ignoring how chapped and gross they were. Ignoring how much her whole heart hurt. There was a stack of sticky notes in her purse. She pressed a kiss to the paper and attached it to Yukiko's bed. Kuon nodded. "I now understand."

"Good. I want to go home and eat the rest of the pizza. And probably cry."

-----

Alice leaned on one crutch, slapping the other against the banister of the hospital the next day. Shiho pulled open the door. She looked as bad as Alice felt, bags under the eyes and with slumped shoulders. Alice set down the other crutch and Shiho crushed her in a hug. "Hi. I'd hug back but you'd have to hold me up."

"Yeah, well, I think I could." Shiho shifted to support Alice the rest of the way to the nicer chair in the room. Ann stared at her as she collapsed into the chair. "Thanks."

"He wanted me to be calm." Ann's voice was more hollow than normal, her eyes locked onto the window. Alice bit her lip, nodding. "Yeah. Makes sense. How he tamed himself. But. Stupid thought."

"Doubt it is." Alice heaved out a sigh as Shiho took a seat on the side of Ann's bed. Even if the blonde was tired, she still took Shiho's hand. It hurt Alice's heart, seeing that. Not because they had gotten there, but because it was denied to her. Her chance, shattered with a gunshot and a guilty conscience. Ann looked away.

"It is. Wishing that Hypermnestra got me better so he never came here." Ann's words drove Alice to grab her crutch and point it at her. Shiho looked to the floor. "Told you, it was stupid."

"Yeah, it was actually. Good job. Don't act like it's your fault for whatever bullshit this is. And don't act like it's better to shift the heartbreak from me to Shiho. Got it?" Alice snarled and Ann closed her eyes. Shiho glanced up at Alice, her fingers tangled in Ann's and eyes full of tears. "I said I'd keep Ann safe, I should have added more connections."

"You did. If only your word was magic." Shiho leaned back to lay next to Ann, her eyes closed too. "I'm sorry. That I'm happy, when you're not."

"Shiho." Ann's eyes shot open, a flicker of flame in her voice. "Don't apologize that you're happy. It's a hard thing to find. Harder to share."

"Ann's fucking right. If you were mad your girlfriend--" Alice paused to let the girl's cheeks both redden at her choice of word, a confirmation of everything. "-- died, I'd call you an asshole. Shit sucks, don't fucking make it worse."

"Yeah, I guess. I'm still figuring out how to deal with my feelings. I guess, I don't know. The guilt is sympathy or something. But, I'm thankful. Enough for both of us, Ann." Shiho whispered, her body moving to encase her girlfriend in a hug. "I can do that, until you feel the energy again."

"I'm thankful you're not upset. I can do that. And Alice, I can tell you where we lived. The thought of you getting vengeance, it calms Hypermnestra. She mutters less." Ann admitted, looking away. "You might find something there when your leg is better."

"Thanks. Tell Shiho. She can't tell me till my leg is better. Or I'd do it now. I know me." Alice pushed herself up, looking over the couple. "I'm glad it worked out. Hope that when Yukiko wakes up, we can have a double date. At a sauna for the two of you to stay warm."

Ann let out a hollow bark of a laugh as Shiho got the door. The navigator tapped Alice on the head as she left. "I really do appreciate all that. With how you feel. Please, do something for you too."

"Yeah. I will. Trust me. Akari's gonna hate babysitting me tomorrow." Alice waved, announcing her presence to the elevator, to the downstairs and past discharge. She didn't have the heart to see Yukiko two days in a row. Hifumi stood outside at the bus stop, a bag on her hips and a cheap t-shirt and pants on. "Hifumi, you're up."

"They wanted to observe me. They couldn't find damage outside, but I was covered in my own blood." Hifumi didn't meet Alice's gaze, looking out to the horizon. She tightened her grip around the strap of her bag. "Don't tell me you're using those to get back to your dorm."

"I'm not. I'm riding the bus. You're stuck with me. So. Spill. Yukiko told me to ask you why. And I want some answers from someone and the way I see it, you owe me them." Alice stamped her crutch, making Hifumi twist her head back towards her. "It was her last request before she saved your life. Get me?"

"I do." Hifumi gripped her elbow, hiding where she had been shot with the motion. Alice sighed. "I'm trying to figure it out. She said she was going to figure out how to atone. That she had never meant to kill my father."

Alice didn't say anything. It should have been clear. She hadn't put the math together that it was Yukiko's Evoker that Hifumi saw. That she was the reason Hifumi spoke of him in the past tense. Alice swallowed, feeling a kernel of guilt in her gut. "Sorry."

"I don't know why you're apologizing. You had the right to seek an answer. She didn't know how she was going to atone." Hifumi continued, her eyes surveying when the bus would whisk them away to continue this conversation. Her fingers tightened their self death grip. "But she explained that a berserk persona wasn't common. That she had been poisoning herself to keep herself from doing that again. And she felt as cold as my dad did. It was like she was already dead."

"She wasn't." Alice spit back, forcing Hifumi to look at her. "She was the opposite of dead. She was living. She was mourning, but she was living. She was emerging from the tomb she built, she was going to be warm again. And then she shut all that down to keep you safe."

"I know. I'm not mad at her anymore. I don't think I could be, not after she did that." Hifumi froze as Alice dragged herself up the stairs into the bus. Alice grumbled as no one made room for her to sit, parking herself in the center of the aisle. Hifumi dragged herself behind, looking a businessman in the face. "She's hurt, please give her your seat."

The man's face reddened as everyone turned towards him. He stammered, unmoving from his seat in spite of that. Hifumi looked from him to Alice, searching for what she could say.

"Don't bother." Alice turned her face from the redfaced man, looking out the window at the bridge. She shuddered as she leaned on the cool window. "Shaming him is for you, not him."

"Still, he could get up." Hifumi whispered, offering her shoulder as support. Alice took the help, using the other girl's balance as her own. "I... she said that berserk personas like hers weren't common. Is that true?"

"They aren't common. I know of four people with them. And one of them was supposed to be dead." Alice growled, the vision of Sakuya's hand snapping into position beginning to haunt her. "Why are you bringing it up?"

"I'm joining." Hifumi looked up at Alice, an expectant look on her face. Alice blinked. "I know, I said I stick to decisions. But, she atoned for her mistake. And then I made one. I should--"

"Awful reason. Join because you want to help. Join because fighting shadows is good. Join because Sakuya's a dickbag and you want to stomp him down. But don't join out of guilt." Alice muttered as she dragged herself down the steps to the dorm, Hifumi following her down the steps. Every one of the Wildcard's muscles were declaring war on her for all the movement today. Hifumi sighed. "I mean it. She didn't almost kill herself so you would feel trapped with us. She did it so you lived. So she could feel like she did something good."

"I. Am mad at the blue haired guy. He does need to be stopped." Hifumi stopped short of the door as Alice struggled into her purse for her key. "I don't know how much good I can do against him. But I want to help with him."

"Say it with your chest and I'll say yes." Alice slammed the key into the lock, waiting. Hifumi sucked in a breath. "I want to know that you're doing this for you, that you know what you want."

"I don't want a world where people run around hurting others because they can. And if I can help stop him, I will." Hifumi stood tall, her eyes sharp and alert as she surveyed Alice. The Wildcard opened the way for her.

Chapter Text

"What is your plan, Alice?" Akari looked over from where she was driving, her eyes landing on the switchblade in Alice's lap. "You are using crutches, who are you planning to stab?"

"Junpei Irori's baseball coach. And she plans to threaten him." Kuon filled in from the backseat. Alice jerked her thumb towards the android. "She wanted you to come, because you should 'protect your boyfriend.' Which is an important part of keeping someone in your heart."

"Uh huh. I'm not doing this. We're noticeable." Akari pulled to the side of the road, killing the car. Alice sighed. "We will get arrested. I know you're upset, but I'm not participating in this self destructive behavior, no matter what good might come of it. At best you get suspended and Junpei is off the team."

"Nah, at best I make him piss himself. Akari, it's garbage that he's keeping Junpei back. If he can homerun a Shadow with a katana, he can sure as hell hit a baseball." Alice fidgeted with her dress. It sat weird from how she had to get into the car, bunched up between her thighs. "And the switchblade is for if he doesn't listen. Do you not care?"

"I do care. But this is the worst possible way to go about it. The best possible way is to get him fired." Akari tapped her hands on the steering wheel. Alice shot Kuon a look, because Akari hadn't denied anything with Junpei this time. "Which I think we can do."

"But I want to put the fear of me in him." Alice pouted, leaning her head back. Akari shifted the car in reverse. "Can I scare him a little?"

"It should not be hard, shadows already flee Alice in a significant portion of Logos." Kuon's hand rested on the back of Alice's seat. She wanted to rest her cheek on it, seek some comfort. Akari turned the car around. "Where are we going?"

"Well, if you want to get him fired and you know he's at his house. Then I will drop you off in front of the field which has his office. I won't see anything so I won't be obligated to report you." Akari had a sly grin on her face. Alice gave her a light punch to the arm. "Hey, not while I'm driving."

"Lighten up like you just did. Alright, you heard the woman we are not breaking into an office and finding something incriminating." Alice winked, her agreed upon signal to Kuon when she was lying for fun. Kuon winked back and Alice wished she could indulge the gay feelings in her heart. But she couldn't do it. "And you're sure you're going to watch one direction?"

"I may not have the same voice on student council that I had, but I am still a member. And if I were to participate in anything happening outside my field of view, it would lead to me not being in good standing at all." Akari sighed, leaning her head on the steering wheel once they stopped. "And as much as I wish I could do it myself, I have to count on you."

"Alright, alright. One day, you'll join us in a little bit of crime." Alice leaned on Kuon as they made their way to the office. Akari, true to her word, was facing the other direction. The direction that would let her see anybody coming their way. "Shall we Kuon?"

"Yes, we shall." Kuon snaked a finger under the door, concentrating. After a moment, the deadbolt released and the two were in the office. Coach Uesugi's office was a trainwreck, papers and schedules and dirty socks everywhere. At least it wasn't in his computer chair. Alice pointed to the chair. "What's your plan?"

"Let's see what emails we can forward, Kuon." Alice stretched her fingers, rifling through the papers while Kuon plugged herself into the computer. The screen turned into a slideshow of images as Kuon sorted through them. "What have you found?"

"Betting on student games. Engaging in game fixing by coaching decisions. And an ex-wife that he's five months behind on paying alimony to." Kuon rattled off the mundane sort of crimes that would get him fired for sure. "I have forwarded these to multiple members of the school administration and to a local news station."

"You did great, Kuon. And I found that he's definitely a creep since he bought cameras to put somewhere." Alice pulled out the receipt for an online order, tucking it into her purse. Kuon's lips shifted at the compliment, widening a hair. "We'll hand that one to Akari. Let's go."

"Let's go."

-----

"Alice, get down from there." Akane stared up from the bottom of the tree. She had on athletic clothes, soaked through with sweat. "You're hurt."

"Yeah. And? Not your business." Alice leaned against the tree. Her ankle was almost better. It was fine. She didn't use that leg to get up here. Akane grabbed a branch, pulling herself up into the tree to stare down Alice. "It's not your business. You've kind of made that clear in my mind."

"Alice, no. You got hurt and getting hurt more isn't helping anything. I know you're pissed at me, still. And I deserve some of it. Some." Akane jabbed her finger forward, her balance starting to shift. Alice caught her wrist, stopping the girl from falling. "I also know you're hurting, probably as much as me. Look, I can't make up for not being there. I can't. Not to you and certainly not to Yukiko. But I can try and be there now. Whether you're ready or not for me."

"Akane, I just, need you to be honest. About why you went after Kotone and didn't tell anyone. You knew how close it was to midnight and everything going wrong." Alice fell back against the trunk, judgment emanating from her eyes. Akane shrugged, her eyes refusing to look away. "Then why?"

"Because I was afraid it was something like the Lovers again. That it was a hallucination but only at her. That it was the trap it was. You never asked what happened on our end after the Still Hour started." Akane spit back, challenging Alice in turn. And in Alice's gut she knew that Akane was right. She made a motion for Akane to talk. "The green jacket girl froze us into a warehouse with her. She fought Kotone and I until Junpei melted the ice on the door and Akari rescued us by healing us. Then that girl ran."

"So, they locked you in. I should have known. That they planned this. Always more ways to hem people in. Stasis." Alice massaged her temples. She was tempted to make the headache worse instead, slamming her head back. One concussion on this tree got her to meet Yukiko. A second could do something, in her dreams. Her sweet, concussed dreams. "I... should probably stop hammering you over this."

"Yeah, you should. I still fucked up, I still should have told you all. But... I didn't. Thought I could just snag Kotone and be on the way. But I am an idiot on that front." Akane stretched her legs out towards the world, looking up through the branches to the filtered sky. "And, well, Kotone was an idiot about Yukiko. If all of us had come for her, maybe we could have figured something out. Maybe we wouldn't be here."

"Maybe. But. I can't change the past, can I?" Alice bit her lip, hooking her hands around the branch. Akane nodded. "I have to figure out what to do better. But that's hard. Because with what happened if I had kept Junpei or Akari, do you two come out okay? Do I trade one casualty for another?"

"Yeah. I don't know. I really don't." Akane dropped to the ground, holding out her arms. Alice's look could win debates without a word. "What? Don't trust me?"

"I did have a plan to get down. Just make it a little easier instead of trying to catch me and getting both of us hurt." Alice slid her good leg down, using Akane's offered hand as support while she used her arms to lower herself to the ground. She balanced on the one foot until she grabbed the crutches off the tree trunk. "See, plan."

"Yeah, still could have gone wrong, you fool." Akane's insult was gentle, a lob between the two of them. Alice tapped Akane on the leg with her crutch as the two of them made their way home.

-----

"Hey, so what did you all do? This reeks of you, Alice." Junpei turned to Alice's desk, slapping down his phone with the news article about Coach Uesugi's resignation after he personally emailed details of his behavior to the paper and school administration. And a follow up anonymous tip about cameras in the girl's locker room. "I'm not complaining."

"A lady never tells her secrets, lucky for you I'm never that fancy." Alice leaned in, the thrill of conspiracy running through her. Kuon looked ahead, one eye turned towards the two of them. "Well, I was gonna kick his ass, crutches or no, but I got talked into this. He thinks he can create a team you're not welcome on? Fuck him. You may have wanted it to lay low but I didn't. You're my friend and I owe you a shit ton."

"She would have seven less dresses, two less jackets and one less blanket without you awakening her love of sewing." Kuon's recitation made Junpei and Alice blush. Junpei laughed after a moment. "Was that funny?"

"More, you kinda made me realize how much of an impact I had on you. I just thought I was going to help you alter stuff." Junpei grinned, pushing himself up. He helped Alice up next. "And here you are. About to get yelled at for wearing not your uniform again."

"They can get over it." Alice looked down at the neon green dress she had changed into before their final class. Lace around the edges, some padding around the chest since her boobs hadn't come in yet, and some last minute embroidered snakes. "It looks good, school's out."

"That matters little to the people on uniform duty." Akari blushed as Junpei took her hand, squeezing tight. "Junpei. Please."

"Oh, come on. Anyone who has an issue with it is gonna get whipped by Kuon." Junpei led Akari off to the door, Kuon and Alice following in their wake. "And who actually had the master plan?"

"No one knows, definitely not Akari." Kuon winked at Junpei and Alice snickered enough to 'ignore' the hall monitor yelling at her to slow down. It's not like she was going fast, not with her last day of crutches. "What's the plan for the afternoon?"

"Ding dong, Uesugi's dead ramen on me." Alice piped up and her heart felt warm, from the look of gratitude on Junpei's face alone. Or maybe it was just that she realized he had found a place with them. Friends who knew him, a girlfriend who liked his style even if she grumbled a bit and the sense he was doing something. "That good right?"

"Well, of course. We have to keep ourselves fueled up and happy while we can. Especially you. How else are we going to keep everyone safe."

-----

Alice pressed her lips to another sticky note, adding another to the line. She took a seat in the armchair next to the bed, digging through her backpack until she found her spare looseleaf paper. Kuon stood in the corner, observing window and door. "What are you doing?"

"There's a story. That if you fold a thousand paper cranes, your wish will come true. I have a year. But no reason to go slow." Alice ran her scissors through the paper, halving it once, then twice. She began the process of folding. Kuon watched her fingers work the paper, bit by bit. "Do you want some?"

"Yes. You have a goal. I would like to help." Kuon walked over, taking one of the papers. She mimicked Alice's motions, making another. "Do I have to make a separate thousand according to the story? Does the story matter?"

"It depends. But if they turn down the wish because we both did it, they're jerks." Alice was out of practice, she spent more time doodling on paper than folding it these days. "I don't know if this will work."

"Then why are you doing it? I know now why you put on lipstick that day, but the act you used it for still does not make sense to me." Kuon was not slowed down by the doubts as to its efficacy, following Alice's motions with more surety than Alice had for them. "Is this faith?"

"Kind of. But, we live in a world that has androids and magic. Why not go for it? I was going to spend the afternoon sulking. And this way, I'm near her still." Alice hated that nothing had changed. Same brain activity. Same heart rate. Same skin tone. Like she had turned to stone. "And if it doesn't work that way and she wakes up? I want her to know I was here in case I'm not there when it happens."

"You're attempting to make sure she knows your heart. I see. But this is something I do not know if I can do." Kuon's fingers kept working while Alice's slowed, the android's wording catching her attention. "Alice?"

"Thinking about your wording. There's a lot of ways to show someone your heart. Junpei does it with ramen and gifts. Akari does it by letting things slide." Alice tried to focus on the paper, her eyes watering. "Akane does it by showing you what she's excited about. Shiho does it by trying to correct your mistakes while keeping it light. And Kotone does it by being dedicated to you, by letting her mask crack to show you who she is and how deep she cares."

"You have left out myself, Yukiko and Hifumi." Kuon placed down her second crane, joining Alice in a third. The Wildcard sighed. "Was this wrong to ask?"

"Well, Kuon, you're doing it right now. You support. You interrogate to understand. You try to be there even if you don't get it. Hifumi, I'm still learning her. But she's like Akane, she wants to share what made her." Alice placed a hand on Yukiko's arm, keeping her fingers from pinching the tube. "Yukiko? You know she cared from how she patched you up. From how she joked with you. How she would drop what she was doing for you."

"Showing your heart is about the action. And you show yours to me with how you answer these questions. How you try to expand my understanding." Kuon hit the nail on the head, adding her fourth crane while Alice's hand ran along Yukiko's warm arm. A coma meant she didn't need a suppressant it seemed. It was strange to realize that Yukiko's warmth was all sociable and none of it physical, at least until now. Now it was the inverse.

Alice couldn't fold anymore cranes for the tears in her eyes.

------

"Hey, Kotone. Need you." Alice pushed open Kotone's door, the girl staring into the mirror. She could see the start of a joke on the reflection of Kotone's lips, one that died before it left her lips. "Yeah, probably not the time to set you up for sex jokes. But I did have a reason for coming in here."

"Yeah, I kinda, got the sense you were waiting for Yukiko." Kotone frowned, half in the mirror and half at Alice. "What did you need?"

"My ankle's cleared. I know where Chie and Sakuya were living. You're coming with me." Alice pulled an Evoker from her purse, holding it out. Kotone looked at her watch, then the Evoker. She attached the holster to her waist, kicking her naginata off the wall. "Good. Am I holding Sakuya down when we catch him?"

"I'd like some answers. I... don't let me be too soft on him. Okay?" Kotone didn't move until Alice nodded her assent. "Good. But it can't just be us against the two of them."

"It's not. Kuon's waiting outside. We're getting Hifumi, she wants to stop him and has a spell based persona. If Akane wasn't sick, I'd get her." Alice pushed the door open, leading Kotone from the room. "Shiho's going to navigate from Ann's room. That way she can pass along anything else Ann adds."

"How did you even get this out of Ann?" Kotone leaned her naginata on the wall, halting Alice from knocking on the door. Alice shrugged at her. "You can't just shrug it off."

"Remember, she had an amount of a connection to Shiho and I. She was thankful about getting to see Shiho more. And knew I'd want vengeance." Alice rapped on the door with two knuckles. After a moment, Hifumi poked her head through the door. "You're making good on your desire to get back at Sakuya. Tonight. We're striking first."

"You're sure? That I'm ready?" Hifumi didn't hesitate in grabbing her Evoker off her desk, strapping it after a bit of struggle to her hip. "Why?"

"You wrecked a full moon shadow. Plus everything I've heard about your runs in Logos while I was recovering." Alice pulled out her switchblade, checking its edge on a stray bit of arm hair. A clean cut. Kotone and Hifumi locked eyes for a moment. "Argue after. And I can feel the irony in me telling you that Kotone."

"It wouldn't have been an argument. I had questions. I'll make sure they wait." Hifumi grabbed her spear off the wall, falling in line behind Alice as they took the fire escape down to join Kuon. "I hope you have more of a strategy than all of us being there."

"I don't, part of why I wanted you. We have time until the Still Hour and travel to account for and plan." Alice helped Hifumi down for the last meter drop to the ground. Kotone swung down and landed next to them. "Sakuya's persona stops movement going at him. Chie has ice power."

"Specifically, she can freeze the environment and run around in it." Kotone twirled her naginata around her and Alice hated that an involuntary part of herself heated up seeing it. It felt like cheating, having those thoughts when she couldn't navigate them with Yukiko. Kuon tapped her heart ear and Alice felt it again.

"I saw Sakuya. That requires attacking him at different angles. Alice has practice balancing on roller blades, she can probably surprise Chie that way. Kotone your persona can help with the ice, right?" Hifumi tapped her chin, the start of a grin blooming on her face. Alice snapped her fingers in success as Kotone nodded. "Alright, you two should work together on that. Kuon and I will work to tire Sakuya out with his persona in the meantime."

"There is also the chance that we will push them in a way that causes their personas to go berserk and attack them. We need to exercise caution if we can tell their hearts have become clouded." Kuon's eyes narrowed on the building in front of them. An abandoned one story house, the windows all boarded up except for one. "One singular entrance."

"Well, all the easier for Chie to try and lock us down. Sooo, not cool with me." Alice placed her Evoker to her head, her finger on the trigger. She dug her feet in as a grin crept across her face. She fired the Evoker, "Knock, knock bitch!"

Fate abhors a barrier after all.

The door splintered, shards of wood falling with a clatter. A faint chill traveled up Alice's arm, the threads dripping with frost. Alice shook out her arm, her grin untouched. She and Kotone grabbed a thread apiece and spooled into the building.

"Pointless." Sakuya didn't give Kotone a second look as he walked towards the back door. The auburn haired girl swung the blunt end of her naginata for his feet. His persona rippled into the space between, her naginata stuck in its inertia field. "Sister."

"Oh, you acknowledge me now!" Kotone gritted her teeth, pushing further against the field. Spikes stomped into ice, the mark of a coward in Alice's estimation. Sakuya shrugged at the backdoor, kicking it outwards into Kuon's waiting hands. "Oh, you thought you were escaping this conversation?"

"Yes. Chie. Show them what calm can be. If you can manage." Sakuya's persona wheeled to catch Kuon's yo-yos, the spins halting in a moment. Kotone's naginata buried itself in the wall, sending a sheet of cracked ice to the ground. Her follow up was stopped as Chie landed on the haft of the naginata, adding to the shards of wood in the hallway. "You know what to do. It's only three."

"If you believe so." Kuon retracted her weapons, marching at Sakuya's persona. He didn't change his path, pushing her back bit by bit. Alice's knife flashed as she slid at Chie, the girl slamming a kick for her wrist. "Alice."

"Don't worry about that. Antigone." Hifumi's persona burst with radiance, blinding everyone for a moment. Alice's blade struck Chie's leg and she wrenched her hand down, a follow up thud resounding. Chie grumbled in the fading whiteness, another leg striking Alice and sending her back across the ice. She made out the impressions of a door frame, catching herself.

"Oedipus." The world shattered with Chie's raging voice. Alice's vision cleared to Sakuya gone, Chie on the ground with her persona floating above her. A limp body rotated in the air above her, spreading ice around. His eyes had been gouged out and replaced with mesh grating. His mouth was sewn shut. He jerked in violent motions, sending icicles around the room. "You all ruin everything. Stillness. Calm! What I'm supposed to be!"

"You shouldn't blame us for your fuckups." Alice grit her teeth as the ice storm increased in strength. I think we got under her skin with this one. Whoops. "You want to be calm? Work on that, don't try to kill us."

"You stabbed me." Chie's persona rotated faster, ice and wind spiraling out from Oedipus. Kuon blocked the ice heading towards Hifumi as she sent healing to Alice. Kotone shrugged it off, fighting the wind to approach the center of the storm. "And you. You made Sakuya angry."

"Well, good, he made me angry. Where has he been?" Kotone dragged herself along the thickening ice, her eyes closed against the wind. "Answer me!"

"Kotone, be careful!" Hifumi shouted above the storm as Oedipus writhed more and more. Spires of ice formed teeth around Chie. Kotone grasped for the girl as the teeth began to fall. "Antigone!"

Hifumi's persona was faster than Alice's, dragging Kotone back. The maw of winter crushed Chie, leaving her bloody on the ground. Alice's persona dragged her away before they could slam shut again. Oedipus shattered.

Chie's body didn't follow the bone structure, arms at the wrong angle, a foot pointed upward. Blood spurted from torn skin, the girl unconscious in overload from the pain. Alice's first instinct was to give her a mercy, end her life.

But Kotone would want answers with Sakuya gone.

She focused on healing the woman with Hifumi's help. Sealing the myriad of cuts and tears. Her bones didn't reform, she might never walk again. She'd live. Probably in the same coma as Yukiko for some time.

At least there was that much justice.

------

"Remember everyone. After tonight, the Still Hour will be over. We will be able to focus our efforts on locating the missing Shiomi and making him answer for his crimes." The Chairwoman stood by the door, blocking their way outside. Alice tapped her foot, impatient. Akari gripped Junpei's hand hard enough that a vein was visible across the back of her hand. "Is there a problem, Akari?"

"Always, but this isn't the time." Akari dragged Junpei past the Chairwoman, pushing her to the side. Junpei gave the Chairwoman a sheepish grin as he went along. Kotone didn't meet the Chairwoman's gaze on the pass. They didn't have an answer about Chie's condition yet, a week later. Akane and Alice exchanged looks with parted lips in surprise before Akane ran off after Kotone.

"Chairwoman, you're certain this is the end?" Alice couldn't shake a feeling that something was wrong. Her monthly clock visit had been stranger than normal. They had been almost coherent, chanting time would hold still forever. The Chairwoman didn't answer, instead looking at Kuon as she remained at the door. "Chairwoman, I'd like an answer."

"Time's running out, Alice. You know what hesitation can cause. Don't let it happen tonight." The Chairwoman pointed to the chilly night. Alice pushed the rest of SEES out ahead of her. The Chairwoman laid a hand on Alice's shoulder. "I know because I have the research to prove it. That's my job."

"Fine. If you're wrong, you owe me." Alice removed the Chairwoman's hand. The severe woman's lips relaxed into something like a smile. "I'm not cheap, you know."

"Never thought you were. Make all of the struggle worth it. Set this part of the world right." Mariko walked into the dorm, leaving Alice to run after her friends. Right to the damn bridge.

Alice had avoided the bridge at every opportunity. She took the monorail, looking away from it. She left early to not have to ride across the bridge to go to Yakushima. She didn't want to look at the fucking thing. The reminder of how transient those who were supposed to care for her would be. Her parents died. Her family didn't want to take her in. And it all started at the fucking bridge.

The Hanged Man Shadow was suspended from a disc by shadow shaped into tension cables. It spun in a way that Alice couldn't help but compare to what Chie's persona had done before it tried to kill her. She couldn't survive her hard choice between her passion and life. I'll have to make sure I'm not caught that way either. Alice put the gun to her head and pulled the trigger. It was a lot simpler than anything else. Just cut the already dead body down and send it plunging into the bay. Almost a disappointment.

-----

"Hi Yukiko. The doctors say it's probably not a bad idea to talk to you. You hear things. Might help keep everything working. I don't know." Alice settled on the edge of the bed, taking Yukiko's warm hand in hers. "We killed the Hanged Man last night. Tonight there won't be a Still Hour. Tonight, it will be calm. I'll miss fighting Shadows, but kinda glad to not have to track down all the people wandering into Logos and becoming stuck in place for a few days."

Alice wished Yukiko would squeeze her hand back. That she'd take a breath without the help of a machine. That she'd wake up and kiss Alice again. That she'd show some of that resolve off.

She would have to settle for the usual. "I really hope you don't have a phobia of cranes. That would suck if so. At least I know you like my lips. And a fraction of the kisses you would have gotten has to mean something. If it doesn't, well, I'd worry why you kissed me in the first place. I miss you, you know. I'm trying to teach Akari how to dress, but she's just happy in any solid pencil skirt and blouse."

Alice attached today's sticky note to an accordion of affection she had stretched across the window, an awning over the cranes. She was at two hundred twenty two. She was getting closer, her fingers falling into the rhythm without a thought now. "I'm working on something for you. Something nice and heavy, but not a mourning outfit. I feel like you made peace. I hope you did. If not, it'll be there for you when you do."

Alice placed the first crane of the day on the remote for the TV. She wondered if that was a good thing to turn on for when she didn't visit. Or would hearing nothing but that all day rot Yukiko's brain? "You know, I hate wondering about the ethics of how to help your brain. I'll have to bring you a stereo, play books on tape or something."

Alice filled the wooden support bar that Yukiko would lean on one day with cranes. A prayer for its use to come. She had added a number today, but the rest of SEES wanted to throw a party at midnight. And despite her mood, she had to go. She helped lead them there.

-----

"You've done well everyone. It's a shame of all those who weren't here to see this moment." Mariko held out a sparkling juice glass, her eyes on the clock above the door to the outside. Five minutes until midnight. Kotone had her arms crossed in the corner, watching the room. Akari nodded in acknowledgment of Kotone, something that surprised Alice. She wasn't sure when things had calmed on Akari's part. "I know this is a difficult thing, when there has been death around this. Akari Odagiri, Tomoko and Junichi Shiomi."

The Chairwoman's mouth moved in silence for a moment after. Alice placed a party hat on Kuon's head, the android giving her a small smile. Two minutes to midnight. Alice turned to the team. "I'm sure I should probably say something. I know I've been difficult. We all have at some point or another. And yet, we did this. Because we rule."

The clock chimed for one note. Then the world froze again. Alice hated being right about it not being the end. The Chairwoman held up a remote. "Good night, everyone."

Alice didn't get a chance to ask anything. Not when Kuon picked her up by the neck and took her breath away.

Chapter Text

Alice had a lot of questions as she came to. The first was why she was alive. The second was why her wrists hurt. She didn't question her neck pain. The third question she had was what the fuck was Mariko doing.

Alice's eyes fluttered open, the rigid geometry of Logos filled her vision. Greens and blues fading into one another. Alice tugged on her arms, feeling the bungie cords stretch then snap her back into place. She heard Akari groan. Alice tilted her head, seeing her friend with a black eye. Kotone was further down, her knuckles bloody and her eye swollen. Alice tried to not look at Shiho's arm, the bulge in her forearm surrounded by a bruise. Hifumi was out cold still.

Akane had similar bruises to what Alice felt on her neck, her breathing quickening as her eyes opened. Junpei lifted his head, one eye open. "Alice, cool, you're awake! You've got a plan, right?"

Alice didn't have a damn clue what was going on. She didn't have a knife. She didn't have an Evoker. She was tied up in bungie cords in Logos. "Not yet. Give me a moment to figure out what the fuck just happened."

"Simple. Things that won't matter soon." Mariko walked into Alice's vision, her hands behind her back. Kuon followed in her wake, her eyes pure white. She blinded Kuon. "With the death of the Arcana shadows, that power will coalesce. It will inhabit a mortal body. It just needs to be called to me."

"Ugh." Alice groaned, staring at Mariko. She wasn't going to bother trying to reason with Mariko. "Kuon, wake the fuck up. Prime Directive, don't allow harm to come to Alice Hiiragi."

"What the fuck did you do, Mariko?" Kotone spit on the floor, focusing her efforts elsewhere. Kuon twitched. Mariko shrugged. "What are you going to do? If this isn't about to matter, tell us why the fuck I'm tied up in Logos!"

"Because time will be in my control. I can undo all of this. You'll have never died. All of the deaths won't have happened." Mariko walked up to Kotone, two glimmering pieces of metal in her hands. One a golden pocket watch, the other a remote. Okay, just have to get that. And then make Kuon have control of herself. Kotone spit again, hitting her in the face. "That makes sense. Facing the end of a timeline would make me want to fight too."

"Kuon, hey, remember how you wanted to know how to cheer up Alice? Because she was broken up about Yukiko?" Junpei shouted, blowing past all of Mariko's insane ramblings. Alice wished she felt like smiling at him, not like she was hit by a train. A train made up of one of the people she had trusted most.

It wasn't Kuon's fault. That's what she wanted to believe. But it was hard to, when Kuon had choked her out. When Kuon was still with Mariko, in contravention of everything Kuon said. Did she lie then? Did she stalk me?

"Kuon, your directives should no longer include Mariko Hyoda, she is officially fired." Kotone spit again, missing Mariko by a hair. Akane growled at Mariko, kicking her legs in the air. Kuon's body jittered again, green flashing across her eyes for a moment.

Shiho was whispering under her breath, tears drying on her face.

"You're going to undo all your crimes, huh? Where's the responsibility for killing my mother? For ruining lives?" Akari threw her fist forward, achieving nothing as it rocketed back. Alice looked to Kuon, her heart burning.

"You got Kotone to awaken when she was ten! She's a child! What the hell were you doing, bringing an orphan in here?" Akane gripped both cords and yanked. And yet, with all the yelling, Hifumi still wasn't awake. "And now you're making Kuon hurt us? She's our friend! You're a bitch!"

"Don't know the half of it. Hypermne--" Ann didn't get to finish what she was saying, Kuon spinning on one heel and flinging a yoyo through the air. Ann dropped to the ground, avoiding being maimed. Kuon jittered again. "I get the feeling. Let's try this again. Hypermnestra."

"Eliminate her." Mariko stared into Ann's blue eyes as a roiling ball of blood floated into the air. Kuon's hands geared up, the android hesitating. "It won't matter."

"I swear if you kill Ann, I will rip you apart myself Kuon. I will find whatever bullshit Mariko put in you and crush it and then we'll put you back together if I have to. Because this is bullshit and you know it!" Alice screamed, her body shaking with fear and worry as the yoyos flew through the air. Kuon sparked, her hand dropping to her side. The yoyos followed suit as Hypermnestra's boiling blood hit Mariko.

Only the pocket watch remained intact afterwards.

-----

Alice stared at the android sitting in her pod. Kuon's eyes were closed, her hands dislocated with only a wire keeping each of them attached. Alice's heart thundered with a desire for vengeance. She wanted to crush her still. She was pissed off. And she knew in the abstract Kuon made the right choice, but she had hurt everyone first.

A curly haired teen in an ill fitting pink sweater looked out from the inside. She had a wide smile with her eyes closed and her hands forming a heart. She was cute. Alice was pretty sure she was dead.

Alice couldn't believe that girl would want this.

Kuon's diagnostics were only a little arcane. A log of a directive change made that morning. Entire memory centers disabled. A long error list began at 0000, when Mariko hijacked her. The final error was a self disabling command: Disable All Weapons, Report for Disassembly.

"Fuck. I'm an asshole." Alice was glad that she could undo most of the commands Mariko had done. She couldn't do the hands. She couldn't undo self destruction. "Ain't that the way."

Alice set Kuon to activate. The pod whirred, a series of beeps filling two in the morning. Alice sipped the shitty coffee she made. She didn't know why she was determined to do it all in one night. But here she was.

Can't undo self destruction, I guess.

Alice moved the chair in front of the pod, crossed one leg over the other and took another sip of coffee. Kuon's eyes opened. "Alice. I failed. You need to remove the part of me that--"

"Nope. I don't. All that shit I said, ignore it. Check your diagnostics, you clear it." Alice sighed as Kuon's machine whirred, the computer flicking between data at inhuman speed. "I'm not great at this. It's your body. You make all the modifications you want. And... thank you. For figuring it out. You did it. Sure, Ann killed Mariko. But you had to not interfere. And you hurt yourself to let it happen."

"It is still a failure. I inflicted injuries to all of SEES. I broke a bone, inflicted strangulation and numerous other kinds of violence. I am compromised." Kuon shook her head. Alice placed her hand on the pod, in line with Kuon's cheek. "I don't need comfort, I don't deserve it."

"You need it and you deserve it damn it! Mariko took over you, she hijacked you. To make yourself free you blew your hands off. So, this is when I'm going to be right tonight." Alice reached down and tapped the pod open with her mug. Her hand went to Kuon's face, cradling it. She wanted to wipe it all away, she got what Mariko was trying to do. Kuon didn't move, but that ghost smile appeared on her face again. "You're cute when you smile."

"Thank you, but this is a strange time to note this." Kuon answered but the smile remained. A part of Alice felt regret that she was flirting with Kuon right now. Not when she was visiting Yukiko daily. Not when she hadn't discussed things with Yukiko. The near death thing wasn't a deterrent. "Alice?"

"Just, difficulties. I'm glad you're up. You are good, okay?" Alice pulled her hand back, letting it drop to her side. It burned despite the coolness of Kuon's face. Kuon blinked several times. "Look. You're a good person, believe it or not. Just like I'm a good person despite all my fuckups. You weren't here for everything I did to piss everyone off when I started."

"I was not. But, what did you do?" Kuon asked and Alice knew she wasn't sleeping anytime soon.

Alice didn't make it to school the next day. She didn't know that Gekkoukan got a new student.

------

Alice yawned as she trudged into class, hating how every little motion to yawn made her neck hurt. It ignited all the little annoyances and griefs. Sure, she came to an understanding with Kuon. And Kuon felt better, but the team wasn't there. And that was with Yukiko still in the hospital and all the knotted emotions of her affection for Kotone and Kuon and the fact she couldn't talk about it with Yukiko.

"You're Alice." An unfamiliar voice snapped Alice to attention as she drifted to her seat. A new student with blue hair had claimed the long empty desk next to her. She had a handful of clay, shaping it between her fingers. The girl regarded Alice, her gaze piercing through. "I'm Aika. Nice to meet you."

"Nice to meet you too." She watched the new girl's fingers work with the clay, considered and decisive motions. Each stretch, pull, curling motion was done with purpose. A ball became the bottom half of a clam shell in minutes, the girl's pencil adding the ridging of the shell. "You're good at that. I'm no where that good with the art I do."

"Practice. Time is finite, but I wanted to master this." Aika didn't look up, but Alice knew it wasn't disrespect. She had focus on the craft and was letting Alice take some of the finite time. She wasn't sure why she knew that Aika was doing that. "What do you make?"

"I sew. I started with patterns earlier this year, but I've moved onto full self designs from what I know. I'd be wearing one if it wasn't for the rules." Alice sighed, turning her ankle in circles, a nod to the physical therapy she was encouraged to do, magical healing or not. "Why a clam?"

"A place to put a treasure. I don't know the treasure yet, but one lost in the sea feels appropriate." Aika continued her work, dragging a toothpick along the interior to make micro scratches. "Why clothes? And why let them tell you that you can't wear it here?"

"Well, clothes is easy. The world doesn't want me to look cute and has fought me every step of the way." Alice set down a notebook, flicking through to a blank page. She started the sketch for a new dress. She watched Aika's fingers work through the clay, forming a second half to the clam. Her pencil worked across the paper in a scalloping pattern. "And, it's not worth the fight on this. It sucks, buuuuuuuuuut, I pick my fights. Now."

"Picking your fights, interesting." Aika hummed, setting the second half of her clam next to each other. Alice was aware the teacher was saying something, but this was more interesting. "Which fights do you pick?"

"The ones that matter. Like, being me. Like, for friends." Alice found the words tumbling from her mouth. They were honest and fast and she didn't know how Aika got them out of her. All to be rewarded with a nod of understanding. "What do you fight for?"

"Don't know yet. Figuring that out. I think." Aika deposited the halves into box, pressing the lid to seal them from exposure to the air. "How did you decide on those?"

"For me, the world picked that fight. Lied about me. Said I was something I wasn't." Alice deepened the design, adding some things to embroider later. Octopi and squids, to guard what lay deep in the ocean. "And my friends, it's the same way. They call them trash, they assume they're bad for who they are or like or what have you."

"So fighting for you is opposition to a falsehood. One imposed by others." Aika nodded, setting out a fresh sketchbook. She turned to a new page, her pencil dragging across the page in circular motion. "Am I wrong?"

"Nope. I fight a few other ways, but that is the big one." Alice hummed, going back to her sketch and adding some more details. "Turning that question back on you Aika. What falsehoods are pushed on you?"

"Based on yesterday alone? That I am incapable of holding conversation." Aika chuckled once and Alice had to fight to keep from bursting out laughing. Kuon would enjoy this girl when they met. When she had hands again. They were similar in terms of how people viewed them. Kinda cute. "I thought they were right. Then this."

"Gotta find the right person." Alice paused for a moment, taking out a piece of paper for folding. She spent a few moments working with it, making a tight little almost sphere of hard angles. Something that could rest and not move. She set it on Aika's desk. The sculptor balanced it in her hand, considering it from different angles. "Placeholder treasure. Or a way to commemorate that you know how to talk."

"Thank you. Why paper folding?" Aika's font of questions didn't stop as she began to translate the different edges to paper, filling an endless array of sides with different colors.

"After class. I'll explain." Alice fought the tears that wanted to spring from her eyes. She focused instead on what she always added last to her designs lately. A snake guarding the heart. She added robotic separations this time. Aika tilted her head after a moment. "It's not something happy. Teacher hasn't earned seeing me be messy."

"Yet, I have." Aika looked back to her sketchbook, her finger jumping from shape to shape. Her eyes crossed for a moment before she hummed in concentration. "You trust fast."

"You behave in a way worth it. You're direct. I like that." Alice tilted her head towards the clock. Hours to go till she could explain herself. Hours to while away in the cooperative studio between the two of them.

------

"Follow me." Alice got the sense that Aika appreciated directness too. The way she packed in swift motion. She tied a blue, pink and white bandanna over her head. Alice couldn't hold anymore tension about Aika at that. Past the school gate, she started the walk to the hospital. It was her usual path. "I have a girlfriend, Yukiko. She's not well."

"Her time is short?" Aika went for the gut and in most cases that would have made Alice uncomfortable, but there was no judgment. Assumption, but not judgment.

"No. She's in a coma. She got hurt, helping someone." Alice blinked, feeling her eyes haze over. She pulled out a sheet of paper, working on it as they walked. "There's a story. That if you fold someone a thousand cranes for their health, they'll get better."

"You fight another imposition this way. The world has said she will be still and you don't want that." Aika reached into her bag, pulling out her sketchbook and tore out a piece of paper. "Is it something where you alone do it, or can others help?"

"It's not clear. But I think it would be fucked up if yours didn't count. If our friends that helped didn't count." Alice shrugged, slowing her pace to show Aika. The blue haired girl followed with precision, picking up on each fold in seconds. "Art is your talent, isn't it?"

"Yes. It's the one thing I understand. The mechanics and how to approach it. I can follow all these rules. But even with the jacket you threw on, I see that you ignore them." Aika's eyes traced the patches that Alice included in her jacket from the beginning, a series of rabbits peeking through fake tears in the fabric. "It's eyecatching, by design and on purpose. Clothes should be whole. In theory."

"Sure. In theory. But rules aren't everything. As you hinted at. And theory like that is just rules. Sure it guarantees something but it's not enough for me." Alice perched her bird in the ruffles of her shoulders. Aika added one to Alice's shoulder as well. "Do you get me?"

"I think I do." Aika walked towards the hospital doors from off center. Alice took a long step forward, triggering the sensor for her. "Oh. My mistake."

"It's fine. This might be awkward. I try to talk to her when I visit. Doctors say this will help her brain." Alice explained as she watched Aika write out Nakamura on her visitor card. Good to know. Aika shrugged. "Good. I can't compromise for her."

Aika gave her silent agreement, hitting the call button for the elevator. "How is it, having a girlfriend in a coma?"

"Awful. We didn't really date for long before the accident happened. Knew each other for months." Alice walked through the elevator, Aika at her heels. It was strange the girl was willing to be here. But she didn't show any fear about coming to face utter stillness. She didn't react to Yukiko's body, held to the most tenuous connection of life. Alice took the woman's hand, holding tight. "Now, I'm holding her. I adore her. And I want to communicate more. I want to hear more. I want to talk about my feelings. I want to explain my heart, how it doesn't wander. But it wants to hold more."

"Your heart doesn't wander, but it holds more? You say that you knew her a long time but were only connected for a short time." Aika took a seat, watching as Alice distributed more cranes along the room. Today's lined the tray of the television, peeking over the edge. "I am unsure what you mean."

"I was smitten, no other word for it, when we met. And I figured out she was back. But we danced around each other. No, I chased, she ran." Alice let out a sigh as she pulled out another sticky note. This was number thirty three. "How many of these would I have given her if she hadn't been afraid of herself?"

"So you were connected, but not promised." Aika spoke like dating was a foreign concept to her. It might have been, she hadn't mentioned anything about her family. Neither had Alice. But the Hiiragi sucked. "What did you mean your heart could hold more?"

"Well. I have affections for more than her. I love Yukiko. I might love others in the same way but I haven't explored that, because we didn't speak on it." Alice pat Yukiko's hand, sealing today's kiss along the support bar. She set up to fold more birds, looking on Yukiko. "And it's no one's fault but fate and time that I'm here. I don't want to betray your trust. But, my heart hurts."

Aika didn't say anything for the rest of the visit, folding her birds in silence. She arranged the twelve of them around the room, each perched to look down on Yukiko. All the while, Alice folded and talked about what she was sewing. Filling more nooks and crannies before they left. And as they did, Alice could only consider the word Fortune.

Aika went home while Alice stopped one floor down. Hifumi waved from her bed, smiling. "You made it."

"Told you I would. I had to make my visit first. How are you feeling?" Alice offered her hand as Hifumi swung her legs down to the floor, using the bedrail to push herself up instead. "I could have helped."

"Yes, you could have. I'm shaky because I haven't moved, not because I'm hurt still. Concussion is clear." Hifumi's report was clear, concise and fast. Almost automatic. No, rehearsed. "How are you? I know you and Kuon are close."

"Angry. At a dead woman. Worried about Kuon but she should be back when we return. Which makes me want to ask, are you okay?" Alice whispered as they walked through discharge. Hifumi shook her head. "Hifumi. You live in the same building. You know that."

"I do. I don't know how I feel. Because I haven't seen her." Hifumi shuddered, bumping into Alice in the process. "She got you first, so you didn't see her tear through us. It was terrifying. Knowing she can do that. That someone could make her do that."

"Used to be able to. I gave her access to her own code that night. I turned off the part of her that would limit that. She scoured that function. Everything she does from now on, you can blame her for. But not that night." Alice didn't want to spit venom that way, not when Hifumi was scared. But a part of her couldn't help but feel like it was similar to how some spoke of her using the women's bathroom. She was a threat to them in their night. "Blame that night on the Chairwoman. Okay?"

"I do. But. The thought of seeing her, fills me with dread. Because she was almost like us. Then she wasn't. And then you were unconscious." Hifumi latched onto Alice's arm, fingers digging in. "Do you understand that?"

"Remember Yukiko? How you were scared of her, of what she could be? Because of something out of control? That's what happens a lot, something out of control happens. It hurts, yes, but you figured out how to get past that with her. You picked up the Evoker." Alice clutched onto Hifumi back, her fingers burrowing into flesh. Hifumi didn't back down. "You can be scared, I can't stop that. But you will treat Kuon alright. She's already worried enough about everything that has occurred. In her own way."

"I get that but Alice. You're sure she won't do anything else?" Hifumi looked away, her hair sweeping in front of her face. Alice tugged on Hifumi's arm until their eyes met again. She nodded in slow motions. "How?"

"Because we reached her through the bullshit. So we cut the bullshit and we know that we have her. You get me?" Alice forced herself to speak in a calm and even tone. Hifumi nodded. Alice let go of the girl. "She accepted being free. If she didn't want that, she wouldn't have scrubbed that. Which if she hadn't scrubbed that, I would have assumed Mariko fucked her up."

"Okay, okay. I will try to limit it. I can't make any promises. I wasn't taking my second look. Like you like." Hifumi ran her fingers across the red marks Alice left. Alice grimaced. "What?"

"Hurt you. Got pissed. Was doing better at that. But I guess that's the exhaustion creeping in. Old habits. So, sorry." Alice stopped in front of the door. She pat Hifumi's shoulder. "I know it's hard. Fuck, all of this has been for you. But, you made it here. And you'll make it further. Don't let your doubt freeze you."

"Don't let my doubt freeze me. Consider but act." Hifumi muttered as the two of them went inside. Kuon sat on the couch, head bowed and hands on the table. New but not attached. Hifumi froze. "What's going on?"

"I am making it clear that while I am in the dorm I will have different hands equipped. These hands have the tensile strength only for delicate work. I can write. I can type. I cannot grip to hurt. I cannot manipulate a human with them." Kuon gestured to the hands with her stump. Alice's heart did a flip at Kuon's dedication to this. Her stupid, single minded dedication. Hifumi's jaw opened and closed. "I know that I hurt you. This is a way to prevent that."

"It. It wouldn't prevent a lot. And then, how can you help someone who's hurt?" Hifumi fired back, the android's head tilting up a hair. "You've carried how many people who got hurt at school?"

"I had not considered this." Kuon pushed her arms to the hands, socketing them in. With a few whirs and clicks, she could move her fingers. "I wanted to demonstrate that I won't do damage like I had. But I'm not sure that I can do that. I'm not good at this."

"Well, I think that you did this is enough proof, Kuon." Alice didn't look at Hifumi, a chance to let the girl process. Think. She laid a hand on Kuon's shoulder, watching as Hifumi went to the to stairs. "Goodbye Hifumi."

"Goodnight. Both of you. Thanks for trying, Kuon." Hifumi whispered before disappearing up the stairs. Kuon shifted, leaning back on the couch and looking up at Alice. Her olive eyes flitted across Alice's face.

"Hey, Kuon. What are you thinking about?" Alice climbed over the back of the couch, landing next to the android.

"I'm considering if you're upset at me. I don't think you are. But I am confused. You, Shiho and Junpei all have been very forgiving." Kuon flipped her hand to look at the underside. There were no seams for the yoyos either. A complete disarmament in a way. Alice laid her hand on Kuon's feeling the differences. The different texture, the different coolness to Yukiko's. Kuon tilted her head, a smile on her face and setting a blush in Kuon's cheeks. "Alice?"

"Feeling a different sensation with you. We have been forgiving because we get it. You weren't in control. Junpei and I, well we're used to people trying to make us be something. Shiho, well, she gets bending to what someone says and getting hurt for it too." Alice resisted the urge to clasp her fingers around Kuon. To get understanding that way. Because it would mean more than that to herself. And she didn't know how to handle that. Not yet. "That's why."

"Thank you. For knowing this. I have these worries, something I am not used to. Because I keep looking back at then. I can see all of the ways that she did that." Kuon closed her eyes. "It was easy. I hated that it was easy. But I couldn't tell the rest of my programming to hate it. Not until you all yelled at me. I couldn't press against the membrane separating me and action."

"Fuck." Alice whispered, her fingers furling around Kuon's. Gripping tight to the women. Keeping her in one piece. "That will never happen again if I can help it. You're a good person. Weird. But so am I."

"You're right. Weird, but good. And you made sure I have a way to prevent it. I will be checking my system for signs of changing code. Beyond what has been self changed." Kuon pressed with a hint of pressure back on Alice's hand. Her cheeks turned red.

Fuck.

Chapter Text

"Kuon, this is Aika." Alice had expected a couple of things from this moment. Aika and Kuon to stare at each other for a moment. For them to say three words and then rely on Alice to carry the rest of the conversation until they got used to each other. What she didn't expect was Kuon to turn on her heel and look the other way. "Kuon?"

"She is dangerous. I cannot explain. But I know." Kuon took a step away, her hands clenching. In anger. Alice hadn't seen that. Not even when discussing Mariko.

"It's fine." Aika shrugged, focusing on coloring each piece of the treasure that Alice crafted for her in a different set of kaleidoscopic colors. Alice sighed, tapping Kuon on the shoulder. "There are few who understand me. She doesn't. It's normal."

"Kuon, can you at all explain this?" Alice leaned in, gripping tight to the android's shoulder. Her hushed voice went across Kuon's ears. "Is this related to information you deleted? Is this some sort of left over?"

"I don't know. I don't think so. But. I cannot be sure. But my being says she is a danger in a way I cannot classify." Kuon fidgeted under Alice's hand, the motors inside whirring at high speed. "I do not think she is being one now. But she will be one. But she is a person."

"I'll be careful then. And, well, we fought Ann, didn't we?" Alice whispered, raising an eyebrow at Kuon. The android's body shifted, falling into her chair. "Caution. Promise."

"You're not a cautious person, Alice. But I understand your intent. Do not get hurt." Kuon faced ahead as Alice sat into her seat and stared at the ceiling. Aika flipped over the treasure, dotting more of it.

"I don't want to hurt anyone. I want to create, while I can." Aika spoke across Alice, one eye on Kuon. The android didn't turn her head, a finger dragging along the desk in slow motion. "What do you want to do with your life, Kuon? With the time you have?"

"I don't know yet." If Kuon knew how, she'd be gritting her teeth to say that. "I have natural aptitudes, but that doesn't feel right."

"You wouldn't follow that?" Aika set down her art supplies, looking up at where the class hadn't started. Alice felt like it had been a long conversation but only a minute passed. Kuon shook her head. "Why not pursue a talent?"

"Because she doesn't want to. Desire matters more than anything inherent. Like your desire to be a woman." Alice hoped that would cut off the argument now. Aika nodded and picked back up her work, time's stretch seeming to end as the teacher entered the room. "Thank you."

"You're welcome." Aika and Kuon answered in concert, both of them looking straight ahead and not at each other. Okay. could not have been more wrong about these two. Aika leaned her head closer. "I think I have a solution to your Yukiko dilemma. She understood you. You can explain when she wakes up what you have done in the meantime."

"No. I can't." Alice let out a sigh, pulling out paper. That's how she would have been in May. She would have done it without a question for Yukiko's feelings. She started folding cranes. There wasn't a real solution, but this let her feel like she was doing something. Fighting against entropy or despair or what have you. Purpose helped. "I won't betray her trust, even if I think she'll forgive me."

"Understood." Aika focused on coloring the treasure again. After a few minutes Kuon joined her in beginning to fold paper cranes. Then Aika. Alice wasn't going to complain. It was progress to the end.

-----

"Alice, help." Kotone stared at a laptop, the text an incomprehensible jumble of legal phrases. Alice groaned as she took a seat, pulling up her own laptop to a search engine. "Not that kind of help, I barely understand this and I've been taking business classes for months. I need help with like company or something."

"Gotcha, way easier." Alice scooted her chair closer to Kotone, the heiress leaning her head on Alice's shoulder. Her fingers slammed into the keys on her keyboard, her cheek tightening against Alice's shoulder. "That bad?"

"Well. When we can't explain that the Chairwoman who had been administering my trust for the past six years was evil and was boiled alive or that my dead brother isn't dead but is a dickhead, kinda." Kotone sighed, running a highlighter across pieces of a contract. "The good news is it wont impact SEES. Or well, the school. But it's going to be a headache for me for the next... two years?"

"So, the company's just out of your control?" Alice laid a hand on Kotone's head, running her fingers back and forth through her hair. It was intimate but this wasn't the point. The point was to get the woman to relax, she'd been on edge for days. Understandable but it’s going to drive her into an early grave.

"Kinda. The board can't do any sort of no confidence vote or anything about me. And I can make suggestions, but they don't have to listen. But certain things, like SEES, like Gekkoukan, have to stay as they are and untouched." Kotone sighed, her gunshot fingers slowing down as Alice continued working across her scalp. "No one wants that mutually assured destruction on the table, because if they touch things that involve me they will get ousted by the contract. Also, when I sort this out, I'm paying you for the head scratches."

"I'll keep that in mind for my future career plans." Alice teased, her free hand navigating around the pictures she had taken of her dresses for the year. Kotone rubbed her cheek on Alice's shoulder, looking over. "Hey, you're doing work for your future. I need a backup plan if you don't actually hire me as a head scratcher."

"Well, if I don't get my company under control when I'm an adult, I guess making pretty dresses is a good backup plan." Kotone yawned, returning to her legalese. Akari walked into the kitchen, breezing past Kotone and Alice without a second look. "Hey, Akari. I haven't really heard from you since that night. Are you okay?"

"I am not." Akari grabbed a glass from a cabinet, running it under water. Kotone grunted at her. "Is that you asking me to elaborate?"

"Kinda. I asked because I do care. I'm just kinda, flighty." Kotone pushed off of Alice's shoulder, pushing away the hand of comfort. "And I was an idiot. I didn't really push back on Mariko enough. I didn't try to squeeze her for info on her purpose in all of this. I let her hurt everyone. Everyone."

"Alice, let me handle this for a moment. I can see you chomping at the bit to correct her." Akari crossed one arm across her chest, sipping from her water. Alice shrugged, she wasn't going to complain. "It would have been nice if you stepped up earlier, yes. If say on Yakushima, you said something. But you didn't. But anything since October Fourth would be monstrous to hold against you. You have been dealing with a long lost friend in a coma and a dead brother as a threat. I can also separate that the Chairwoman did the crimes of a company you're not even running."

"I will add that you also told me you had a persona for five years and have been doing this stuff the whole time." Alice tapped Kotone on the shoulder, the girl pushing her back. "Yeah, there's shit you could have handled better. Like Akari. Like Yukiko. But, like Akari said, you also kinda got fucked over?"

"Yeah, okay. Maybe I've been fucked over. But when it's your name on the company, it feels like a shit excuse. Buying you two all the estrogen in the world won't make up for that." Kotone cracked her neck, looking Akari in the eye. "Which is why I'm going to try and fix things. Find a real way to make up for whatever the Shiomis have been doing. I'm not thrilled with what Ann has told me."

"I... hadn't expected her to say anything to you. I rarely see her leave Shiho's room in fact." Akari downed the rest of her water glass, looking to the floor. "Since you have had issues with seeing the forest for the trees at times, I'll help. Granted, after I graduate. I was looking at a business program anyway."

"Alice really rubbed off on you when she cracked that egg, huh?" Kotone stuck out her tongue, closing her eyes with a smile on her face. Alice held up her hands to absolve herself. "I'll take you up on that kind offer. We can really give the board a heart attack. But you might be hitching yourself to a sinking ship."

"Well, considering how your company was run in your absence it can only do better. And, please, I was like this before I met Alice." Akari blushed, cleaning her glass. Alice laughed as she pushed up to root through the fridge. "What's so funny?"

"You might have been confrontational, but you were trying to help. Granted, neither was I. That's what Kotone pointed out. You managed to be kind and an asshole at the same time, I'm so proud." Alice pulled out a cake that she had stashed, tossing it on the table. Akari and Kotone didn't hesitate to start grabbing plates and forks for it. "See, you two get me."

"I'm not going to complain about cake. You also seem like you're in a better mood, Alice. How come?" Kotone pointed out as she handed the slice over. Alice counted on her fingers for a moment. "That doesn't answer me."

"I have had a good time hanging out with Aika, working on art. And, maybe the cranes are stupid and won't work but each one I add makes me feel better." Alice's fork guillotined through the cake slice, bringing it to her lips. She hummed in delight, the strawberry was the right choice. "I think before the next full moon or right after, I'll reach a thousand. And it's like with each one, I'm kinda telling all of this bullshit to go fuck itself."

"A very you way to put that. But I understand, it lets you feel like you have control." Akari took a bite of her own cake, then considering. She cut another slice, setting it to the side. "For Junpei."

"You can just say your boyfriend, you dork." Kotone teased, her foot tapping Alice's leg under the table. "But, yes, it sounds like the cranes are doing you good. Reminds me I have some for you."

"Thanks. Appreciate you both." Alice finished her slice in amicable silence, raising and heading upstairs. She had more dresses to work on after all too.

-----

"Alice. I need to talk." Aika's abruptness was always welcome in Alice's mind. There was never a question of her intention. She was an open book. Alice made an after you motion towards the courtyard. "Thank you. I have questions about life."

"You do? I'm curious to hear your questions then." Alice felt a chill run up her skin at Aika being unsure. Her questions had been ways to interrogate Alice, to press on her beliefs. Change them or reinforce them. She was a crucible for Alice these past two weeks, a way to refine all her feelings against rock hard certainty.

"If someone doesn't have memories, how do they know how to behave? If they were formed wholesale as a teenager, how do they navigate life?" Aika pulled out a small paint set, balancing it on her lap. Alice blinked a few times, trying to figure out a response. "It seems impossible."

"Maybe not impossible but I think that they would struggle at times. Sometimes, that's how I feel about being a woman." Alice admitted as she began to work with a piece of clay that Aika had given her. "Because I didn't get taught how to be one or navigate certain things. I just watched, figured it out and fucked up a lot. Kept my chin up and confidence high."

"I understand. That's why you said I was one of the sexiest girls in the school the other day. Alongside Akari. Despite how you don't wish to date Akari." Aika's cheeks blushed for a moment, gone in the blink between seconds. Alice worked with the clay, forming a rabbit in her hands. She didn't want to bring up that part of her did want to date Aika, but that had to wait. A lot had to wait. "Then, how did you adapt fast? You never seem to struggle with being a woman."

"Practice, practice, practice." Alice hated that was the answer. She had a feeling that Aika hadn't managed to make these connections before her. Being trans, being blunt, it came with difficulties on managing to interface with others. "This is about how you fit in with others, isn't it?"

"Yes. You appreciate how I am. But others will look at my art, enjoy it and never look at me twice. It's almost like I am the clockmaker god. I made the clock, set it out and then everyone experiences that." Aika shrugged as she began to paint the shell of her sculpture, the two halves now blended together. Alice tilted her head. "The artist's art gets engaged with more than the artist in all cases. Even if looking at the artist can reveal more about the art itself. Right?"

"I agree, but I think that you can't really count on people to give a shit about you until they do. People do give a shit about me, but I also know a bunch don't." Alice dragged her thumb through the clay, the tension fighting her as she shaped an ear for the rabbit. "And I only care what those who give a shit think about my art too. Because they understand it. Sure my art is a lot more intrinsically linked to me, I wear it. But people still fail to see the reason for a lot of it."

"Yes, your fascination with snakes. I know that has to do with Yukiko, even if it's not obvious to me. I know that your effort to draw attention to certain parts of the dress with ruffles is to also detract from the parts of your body you dislike." Aika shot Alice in the chest with her statement, making the Wildcard suck in a breath through her teeth. "You enjoy my honesty."

"I appreciate it, I find enjoying that one a little bit hard. But yes, you realize that choices have roots. And you've been working on perfecting that clam because you know there's something hidden within." Alice tapped her chin, going through her memories with Aika. She wanted to match the bullet, shot for shot. "And you weren't sure what should be within until I gave you something."

"Correct. Each day I work on this, I'm more and more sure that it is my interactions with you that make it worthwhile. It is why I have dedicated all the time to color the treasure you gave me. An approximation of a pearl, furthered with the layering of paint." Aika frowned, turning over the paint brush in her fingers. Alice shifted her efforts to skimming away the clay body, a way to create the sleeker but chubby bunny she wanted. "It's all an approximation. Art, behaving a certain way. It's never quite right."

"I think it doesn't matter if it approximates. It's different but that's good. Because we get to be more interesting for standing out more. You want to be seen and I see you. Get me?" Alice found herself growling at Aika, the girl nodding acknowledgment. "You're weird, I like that. And everyone else is dumb for not recognizing the value to that. I really wish you and Kuon got along better because the two of you are really good at asking questions."

"Are we? I always feel like my questions are frivolous. They bring out passion in moments like this and I worry that I am only hurting you." Aika balanced the clam in the crook of her palm, the top half covered in an abyssal blue and dotted with silver stars. The bottom half remained a stark white. "That is not a normal worry, is it?"

"Not really. If I had a problem, I'd tell you. I'm almost as forthright as you." Alice set down her half finished rabbit into the box, making sure it could stay wet for further work. "I hope these answers help."

"I think so. They make me feel more human at least."

-----

"Good jam!" Shiho shouted as she zoomed over to Alice, the two girls floating to the half empty stands. People weren't here to see a bunch of lesbians hit each other because those people were cowards. But Ann was. And Alice figured that woman would never be a coward. Ann stood up, her eyes not moving but her lips in a smile. This wasn't a fake one, not with the way Shiho reached a hand out to her. "Did you have fun?"

"I did. Seeing you spin was pretty." Ann was matter of fact as she climbed off the stands and took Shiho's hand to join them on the hardwood. She looked Alice up and down. "You hit good everywhere, don't you?"

"I do. It's one of my charming facts. Glad you enjoyed." Alice cocked her hips to the side like she had all match to send people careening. Ann let out one laugh before pulling Shiho close and latching both arms around her. The navigator went beet red. "You've been dating for over a month now, you can't blush every time she does that."

"I like it and I will keep blushing. She needs all the warmth I can give her anyway." Shiho leaned up and kissed Ann's chin. The blonde blushed, her eyes animating for a moment as she looked down. These moments made Alice feel better, like the world would come back to life from the hard times. "You good, Alice?"

"Better than good. You're inspiring, the both of you." Alice took a seat on the barrier, stretching out her legs towards the other girls milling around. Ann and Shiho made a confused noise in unison. "Look. It's not been the best the past while. And Ann, girl, you've been through the wringer. But you're here, living life. Gives me hope that I'll see Yukiko do it next."

"You're not afraid she's going to be stuck forever?" Ann's voice peaked with a hint of emotion, a worry in her voice. "She always took more than us. Sakuya never told her to slow down."

"Of course he didn't. I get not wanting to give up. It's not like I stopped showing up beside your side when you were stuck in the hospital." Shiho rocked back and forth in Ann's arms, her wheels clacking with each movement. Alice knew the girl was fighting to be held tight like that, her wheels wanting to go. "And, well, the doctors say she'll wake up."

"Yeah. They don't know when. But I waited months for our first ten kisses. I can wait for more. She made it worth it." Alice rubbed her forearms, feeling the change from when they were soft in April to tight cords of muscle now. "I don't think I've seen you take the medicine."

"I don't have Hypermnestra calling as much. She's calmer. I think, taking care of myself and letting Shiho in helped. It's easier to be calm when someone lets you squeeze." Ann's voice lilted for half a second. "And maybe, it's something else. I don't know. I feel different."

"Maybe you're just more you now. That's what you needed, a chance to be you without the experiments and people caught up in it. Break through the bars a bit to see the rest of life. Still hurts but you can look out." Shiho rubbed her cheek on Ann's forearm, the blonde wiggling back in answer. "Love you."

Alice snorted as Ann's face joined Shiho in being a solid shade of infinite red. She hopped onto her skates, sailing into the remnants of her team. The rest was for those two.

-----

"Hey, Aika!" Alice wasn't sure why Aika was at the front door of the dorm at one in the morning. She tossed her Evoker to Junpei, the boy giving her a salute while Alice swung by her friend. "Did something happen?"

"I have been trying to understand something. I know you keep late nights. It felt easiest." Aika shrugged, looking towards the bridge. Alice took Aika's hand, fighting the fact that she didn't like where the conversation would take them in the physical space. "We don't have to go. I know you don't like the bridge."

"I've never told you that. But, you always look out towards it." Alice dragged Aika down the stairs towards a walk lining the bay towards the underside of the bridge. "Aika, what has you up so late?"

"You haven't told me, but the same way I look at it, you don't. As for what has me up so late, it's the question of family." Aika tangled her arm around Alice's a familiar intimacy without commitment again. A way to survive the boundary that was Yukiko. "I don't remember mine."

"You don't?" Alice tilted her head to look at Aika, the girl's eyes locked to the bridge. "Did you lose them?"

"I don't know, Alice. You must wonder if I lost them on the bridge, the way I look at it. Like you lost yours. And yet, I didn't. I am merely a girl without an anchor. I float on the sea, until I found your shore." Aika's eyes shined as a cloud passed, the almost full moon making her blue hair appear almost silver. "And even then, it houses my boat in a strange way. Almost like family, almost like a lover. And neither are correct. And my connection to you feels deeper than these paltry weeks should indicate."

"I click with people fast, it's not that strange. But I can tell you, I don't do family. That's... cosmic stuff, meant to tie you to others for no reason but proximity." Alice felt the old rage bubble up. All the aunts and uncles and cousins who didn't give her a second look. All the ways she was always left behind. "And the lover thing, I set the boundary because I don't want to betray Yukiko. We know that."

"I won't push on the lover. But family. You say it is proximity. Is this not its own form of proximity? We have run into each other. Our time together is the result of chance, is that not family as well?" Aika's arm squeezed around Alice's, her lips parting for a moment in thought. Alice shook her head. "Explain."

"Family is something inflicted by birth. Family is something you get tied to. It's something that you have little choice in, beyond staying or leaving." Alice squeezed back, her skin burning with rage. Aika looked up to the sky. "And you, Yukiko, Kuon, Kotone, Akari, Junpei, Akane, Shiho, Hifumi, you're all people I choose to be around. I am not bound to you all, I am with you by choice. That's what matters to me."

"What if it isn't a choice Alice? What if it was all determined in a way like family, that things were arranged a certain way." A tear ran down Aika's cheek and without thinking, Alice wiped it away. "What if every cruelty and tenderness was this way because it had to be."

"I'm Fate." Alice admitted, her head spinning as she spoke. It couldn't be clear to Aika and yet the woman didn't seem shocked by the words coming from Alice's mouth. "And if I'm Fate, then I'm making these choices that led to this. And I wouldn't bind you in my threads. I wouldn't bind anybody that didn't ask for it. My threads are for me and me alone."

"They would be, wouldn't they? We'll see how true that is, I suppose." Aika smiled, that same small one she had when Alice gave her the treasure for the sculpture. She produced the clam, the abyss of stars on one side reflected in the bay and the ocean of the other pointed to the stars. The clasp moved, revealing the treasure from the day they met. “Take this. A gift given, returned in protection. Such that Fate herself is guarded.”

"Oh, that's a delightful thought." Alice took the clam, her finger running along the undulating waves of it. "Fate may not need a guardian, but it’s nice to have one."

Chapter Text

Alice almost wanted to put a leash on Kuon, the way she took off the moment the Still Hour hit. Shiho hadn't even identified the location of a Shadow, but the android was off. Towards the bridge.

Fucking bridge.

SEES had trouble keeping up with Kuon, with the woman leaping building to building, ignoring all the roads that SEES had to take on bikes. They all followed as close as they could to her in silence. No one wanted to think about what might happen with everyone split up again. Hifumi's lip bled form how she had bit it in anxiety.

They were four blocks from the bridge when the first screech of metal began. Merkbah appeared in the sky, Kuon a dot on the end of the pendulum. The support cables of the bridge twisted in place, the road tearing itself asunder. Alice's heart thundered at whatever this Shadow or Shadows could do. She hadn't been afraid in a fight with a Shadow in a long time.

She was terrified now, with the world itself bending around the shadow. The bridge ripped into chunks, orbiting through the air in a circle. Kuon darted through the air as SEES approached, her yo-yos failing to strike the miniscule target as the bridge itself rotated into the way. Pieces of the asphalt had become spiral staircases leading towards the horizon, support cables turned into squares that spun in place perpendicular to the chunks of bridge. The Shadow did something and Kuon flew backwards, crashing into the ground in front of Alice. The asphalt exploded outwards on impact, showering her in rocks.

The Wildcard skidded to a stop, Evoker to her head. Kuon looked up at her, one eye open. Her arms had been torn away. Again. Alice was sick of Kuon being disarmed. She was going to have words with this Shadow, her way. "Moirai!"

"You are Fate, like you said." Aika's voice emanated from the structural orrery. One of the support cables wrapped around Moirai. Asphalt filled her scissors, cables knotted her threads "Fate however loses to Time. Unfortunately."

Alice's arms pressed to her side, her skin depressing on its own. The rest of SEES began to aim their Evokers to their heads. Aika walked through the shield of asphalt, looking down on them. Akari fired a crossbow bolt, summoning in the same breath. "Let her go. If you're her friend, you know she hates being restricted."

"I do. Sorry. I have to explain some things." Aika waved her hand and Heimarmene was tangled in a cable as well, her summoner falling to the ground. The bolt splintered in the air. "I have no intention of harming you. Any of you."

"Then talk and let us go!" Alice hated that she could feel something resembling warmth for Aika still. She ripped Kuon apart. "We're tied together, aren't we?"

"More than you or I thought last night. I remember now, who I am. How I know who you are. I was closer to your heart than you or I could know. Kuon forgot as well." Aika floated to the ground, the Moonlight Bridge Orrery turned into a swirling asteroid belt in the sky. She landed near the wrecked android, Kuon turning her head to stare. "She remembers now. It isn’t a good thing."

"Yes. I was meant to stop you." Kuon's voice trembled the barest hint. Alice wiggled, her persona fighting against the bindings around her. Hifumi's hand landed on her shoulder, squeezing. Kotone hurled her naginata at Aika, the girl stopping its trajectory than forcing it to reappear in Kotone's hand. "I failed. I could not stop the Shadow of Time."

"No. Time is a fundamental force. And it is not quite correct to say I am the Shadow of Time, that was only the goal of the Chairwoman. She wished to undo mistakes, she believed she could access the power of time. Me." Aika 's face was dampened by two tears. "I am a piece of Chronos, split from him. And as he has been torn asunder, time itself splinters into your Still Hour. I will have to rejoin him. And it will end everything in the process."

"What do you mean, end everything Aika? And what does Alice have to do with this?" Akane took a step in front of Alice, as if her presence might be enough to deter whatever godlike power Aika had. "And what do you mean a part of Chronos?"

"Controlling Time is beyond mortals. Breaking it is not. Repairing it will result in this world stopping. All energy will be taken from it. An existence frozen in a snapshot. A sculpture universe." Aika looked at her hands, covered in wet clay still. Alice felt sick. "I never knew until after I woke up this morning. I had inklings. But I didn't know. As for Alice, that is for Kuon to explain. She did it. You will have a choice of when the world will stop. Sooner. Later. I will give you until the next Full Moon to decide, after which I will begin to merge with Chronos."

"Fuck you, Aika. I'll get stronger. Do you hear me? I'm going to get stronger." Alice grit her teeth, pushing her arms outward. Moirai's scissors cut through the cable, the persona rushing for Aika. And in an instant the piece of a god was gone, the bridge back intact. It was nothing. Alice fell to her knees, dragging Hifumi down with her. She scooped up the android as best she could. "Hey there, you okay?"

"No. But I must explain before I power down to be fixed. Then you will be prepared for the choice." Kuon whispered, her one eye all that was open. Alice could feel the machinery in Kuon firing to move her arms and failing. That she wanted to make this easier for Alice. "Ten years ago, the Shadow of Time created by Shiomi Solutions broke out. I was sent to fight it while it was in a weakened state. We fought to a standstill, destroying the bridge. When we came to a stalemate, I was told my one option. A binding process to a human. There was one human alive."

Alice gripped Kuon, realizing who it had to be. She bit her lip. "Why wouldn't it be one more piece of bullshit? One more stupid manipulation from Mariko. Well, let's just undo everything she set in motion."

Alice looked to the team, half of them nodding in agreement. Akari, Junpei, Ann and Hifumi wouldn't meet her eyes. That was fine. She had a month.

First she had to rest and try to not dream about cold green eyes putting a ticking time bomb in her chest. It wasn’t really Kuon who did it.

----

Alice knew today would be one thousand. The end of her little protest against losing Yukiko. She should be talking to the team, rallying their spirits. She had a month and she needed this. The more she told Yukiko, the better she felt anyway. It was a way to keep Yukiko in the loop and Alice's thoughts in order.

"So, Aika, the girl who kinda tried to get me to cheat on you in a well meaning way?" Alice considered her purse. She set the lipstick out first, the tube almost empty. Over two months of kisses would do that to it after all. "She's apparently Chronos. Greek god of time and birth of everything. Not like, Chronus, the one who ate his kids. But also kinda yes? It was a confusing wikipedia article.

"She tore apart the Moonlight Bridge. Said the world's going to end. Well. End for us. All the energy sucked out of it, leaving us frozen in place. Which, is like, heat death." Alice turned the lipstick in slow motion, the last bits of dark kisses to be applied to her lips. "And that's a ridiculous thing. Isn't it? Just. Sorry, Mariko's a dumbass who broke time, no more time for you. Feels kinda petty. And we're not even at some of the weirder parts. Hold onto your paper cranes for this one.

"Apparently, she was made up of all those Shadows from that experiment that Akari's mom tried to stop. Or well, she supposedly got split off from the real Chronos. She says she's going to come give us a choice on if it will be fast or slow." Alice shrugged as she tossed the empty lipstick tube in the garbage. She took a seat on the bed, scooting all the previous paper cranes out of the way. "You can guess my answer. So, in a month she's going to come back. I plan to make her sad about it."

Alice paused for a moment, listening to the steady beat of Yukiko's machines. They were a little louder, a little faster today. It felt like they were impatient for her to start the final crane. Alice was too. But that was fine. She'd have all the time, despite what Aika said.

Alice could make these cranes in her sleep. She was pretty sure she had made some of them in her sleep. She held the final crane in her hand before pinching it between two fingers. She placed it on Yukiko's forehead. Her heart felt warm. She had told the world to fuck off after two months of work. It was easy for someone to think of Alice as flighty. They were wrong.

After all, the real Alice had been patient long before this. She had Time inside her. "I love you, Yukiko."

Yukiko's body jittered, her eyes flying open and closed. Alice jumped up, slamming her hand into the call button. "She's moving around!"

Alice got shoved to the side, dozens of her paper cranes and kisses falling to the ground as the nurses and doctors began to unhook Yukiko from machine after machine. As they tested all her functions that they could. All the while Alice sucked in deep breaths, tears running down her face. She knew her mascara was going with it but she couldn't care. She was going to look a mess and so was Yukiko. It was worth it.

After an eternity, three eyeball checks and a glass of ice chips, Alice was left with Yukiko. Her girlfriend's face had sunk into itself, long since marked with all the tubes keeping her alive. Her eyes were wide open, a smile fighting to alight on her face time after time. Her muscles were out of practice. That was fine.

"Hey." Alice leaned in, placing her forehead on Yukiko's. Those gorgeous brown eyes stared back into Alice's. Yukiko made a hoarse happy noise back. "Save your strength. I missed you."

"Really? You were in my dreams all the time." Yukiko's rasping voice was the least sexy thing Alice ever heard, but in good news it was the most romantic hoarse confession that Alice would ever hear. "And, you decorated good while I was gone. I especially like the crane bungie jumping with paper clips."

"Akane helped with that one." Alice moved her forehead back and forth across Yukiko's. "The ones with eyes are from Kuon. The one that has a shogi piece on its back is from Hifumi. Junpei helped hang the ones off that ceiling tile. Akari took them down. Kotone put them back up."

"Sounds like them. I... don't know how much I should believe of my dreams." Yukiko's arm flailed up to her face, rubbing her cheek. Alice's thumb did the work for her. "Pretty certain I heard that you love me."

"Pretty certain that's true. I told you everything that was going on. In my mind and my heart. I was angry for a little bit, but I understood why." Alice's thumb brought Yukiko a centimeter closer. The girl's eyes fluttered in spite of her exhaustion in response. "I waited so long for this."

"You worked for it. One thousand, right? Who knew paper cranes were how you caught a frozen yokai?" Yukiko joked, using her energy to close the last bit of distance between them. And this was their first warm kiss, all the poison gone from Yukiko in the heat between them. All the pain was gone in that instant as Alice kept a tight hold to Yukiko. Because this was her girlfriend. And no one was going to take her away again. "Oh, you should have been doing that in my dreams."

"If I could have, I would have. But there's an unfortunate side effect of being in a coma, a breathing tube." Alice admired how much of her lipstick coated Yukiko. A fresh marking of their connection, a sign that despite this trouble they had made it. "I asked if I could kiss it and the nurse said I was crazy."

"Yes, it's why I love you." Yukiko fell back onto the bed with a smile on her face. Alice leaned down, laying with her, one possessive arm around her. "You're stubborn till the end, aren't you?"

"Yep. I wasn't going to lose you that easily. It might have been a pipe dream but it worked out, didn't it?" Alice whispered in Yukiko's ear, her thumb running over exhausted muscle. "So, physical therapy. I'll be here as much as I can. If it weren't for Aika's return and preparing to fight a god, I'd be here all the time."

"Well, you've got to beat a god. You already made me feel like I could overcome what I did. So, a god can't compare to how much of a stubborn idiot I was." Yukiko let out a shallow breath, her index finger tracing Alice's. "And. Well, you can't spend all your time on me. I heard some of the rest."

"That's another day. Today, you're MINE." Alice giggled as she clutched tight to Yukiko. Sweet, strange and living Yukiko.

------

"Akari, girl." Alice nudged open the girl's door. Akari's room was in the same order it always was. Bed against the wall, desk with one pill bottle and two textbooks out. A map of the world stuck out on one wall, a middle aged woman's bucketlist of vacations spots circled on it. And the girl responsible wouldn't look Alice in the eye. "Akari, you skipped school. You never do that."

"Why does school matter?" Akari looked to the Evoker on Alice's hip, the responsibility she was carrying. The responsibility Akari wasn't willing to engage with. "It's pointless. You saw what Aika did. She destroyed the bridge, she ripped apart Kuon, who still isn't put together again. She controls time."

"So?" Alice pulled out her Evoker, spinning it on one finger. Akari huffed at her, taking a step away. "Seriously, so? We get stronger all the time. We beat all the Shadows before this. Our worst enemy has never been Shadows. It's been not working together. Usually cause I'm a bitch."

"Usually because we all weren't talking. Not just your fault." Akari admitted, looking away from the fascination of what could be. She didn't want to admit it. That's fine, I smashed one way Akari wouldn't admit she had a future. I an do another. "And this is on a different level from Sakuya. This is a different level from the Shadows."

"Yeah. Sure. And I think you could solo half the Shadows we fought these days. We have a month at least to get stronger." Alice snapped the Evoker into her hand, aiming it at her own head. She spread her legs, grounding herself as she stared into Akari's eyes. “You want a sign? It's not the Still Hour and this--"

A gunshot, a shattering of reality. Fate itself draping threads over Alice, shielding her. "I'm not even tired. We're not even at our peak."

"And what about that matters in the face of destruction undone in a second? If Aika could do that to something else, she could do it to herself." Akari countered and she wasn't wrong. Aika could very well undo all the damage they did to her. "You're talking about killing a god."

"Yeah, I am. We're in the business of doing the impossible, Akari. Whether it's you coming to terms with who you are, Yukiko leaving that coma, Kuon feelings things or me having some damn compassion? That's what we goddamn do." Alice ran a finger along the scissorblade of the Moirai, her finger coming away without a cut. "I don't care what Aika says, people telling me no has only made me more powerful. I refuse to be held in place. I want to see what's next. For you, for me, for us all. And if you're going to get frozen, let's make sure you look cool on the way out."

"I have never been cool a day in my life." Akari fired back and Alice shook her head. "Name one time."

"Let's see. Picking your name to piss off Mariko. Helping me and Kuon ruin the Uesugi guy, indirectly. Rescuing Kotone's ass. Being my friend also inherently makes you cool." Alice flipped the Evoker towards Akari. An offer to the girl. "You can do this. You should do this."

"Damn it." Akari took the Evoker, forcing Heimarmene from her soul. She let out a breath, checking her fingers. "I hate when you're right."

"Because it makes you do things." Alice smirked at him, finger to her cheek before the two of them laughed until the personas faded. "Thanks. For trusting me on this."

"Somehow, you've earned it." Akari tossed the Evoker back to Alice, the Wildcard spinning it back into the holster. "I trust this means we're going to train in Logos tonight?"

"Of course! Get your crossbow missie and get in the car with Kotone."

-------

"We have to go find one of our girls!" Alice pushed Yukiko's wheelchair down the hallway of Shiomi Solutions, grinning like a madwoman at every scandalized worker she passed. It's not everyday that they got to see two of Iwatodai's hottest sapphics in handmade dresses. Alice had made them matching for one another. The snake and ocean for herself and rabbits in the sky for Yukiko.

"You almost make it sound like a harem!" Yukiko giggled as they wheeled around the corner towards the service elevator heading down. Alice cackled as she spun Yukiko on one wheel. "It does!"

"Okay, but you're allowed to drag in more girls too! That was the agreement." Alice smiled as Yukiko tilted her head up and peck Alice on the chin. "Anybody who says no to you is a fool."

"In your eyes, yes. I'm a big ask right now." Yukiko gripped the arms of the wheelchair, the ghost of her strength doing little but straining her muscles. "I'm lucky you love me."

"That luck goes both ways, got it?" Alice snapped off the correction, she wasn't going to let her girlfriend labor under the assumption she wasn't a treasure. "I also don't know if Kuon is okay to consider a relationship now. She's just been rebuilt. You and I were already a thing."

"We were when you got me rebuilt on the back of a flock of paper." Yukiko hummed in tune with the elevator's mechanism. "I'm going to have to talk to Kotone too, aren't I?"

"Little bit. But she also should talk to you? Like, you all got some problems to solve." Alice popped the wheelchair up a centimeter, getting rid of two friction points before heading out again. Yukiko nodded, leaning on her hand. "I know. It sucks. But I think it'd be good for you both."

"I hate when you're all right. That's a lie, keep being right, but it kinda sucks." Kotone piped up from the end of the hall, one hand holding her ponytail in stress. Yukiko and Kotone exchanged half hearted waves. "Hey. So. Fucked up of me to not push."

"I mean, it's not like I made it look appealing." Yukiko's fingers dug into her cheek for a moment. Alice pat her on the head. "I didn't."

"Yeah, well, sure. But you can't just sit here and enumerate your sins, not gonna get anything done that way." Alice moved her hand back and forth, messing up Yukiko's hair for a moment. Kotone snorted. "You two missed each other. You can work on not doing that. And being honest about what you want."

"Yeah, probably for the best. I miss having more friends, ones who just like Kotone? Like, you never gave a damn about the company, just me. Sure, some of it was that I'm a source of lots of tripping incidents." Kotone smirked at Yukiko, the girl popping her eyebrows back and forth in answer. "You have not warned Alice you like seeing trainwrecks have you."

"Are you kidding? I'm pretty certain she does too. That's what half her Akari stories are." Yukiko giggled, leaning her head into Alice's stomach. "I missed you too. Having all the energy around and then not, it was jarring. Made it really easy to fall into worse habits. And, well, thinking I knew the answer to my problems, that didn't help."

"Yeah, okay, maybe that didn't. And yeah, there's a lot of messiness with Akari. It's kinda charming." Kotone smiled as she took a knee in front of Yukiko. "So, how much do you know of what's going on?"

"I told her everything. She'd help if she wasn't, you know, hurting. But she's done enough." Alice leaned her chin on Yukiko's shoulder, turning and kissing Yukiko on the cheek. Kotone blushed for a moment. "Jealous?"

"Hey, no!" Kotone lied, her face on fire as she looked away. Yukiko pat her on the head. "Hey! What?"

"Well, Alice and I chatted about things. Now that I can. So. Follow her lead for a moment." Yukiko whispered and Kotone let out a gasp. Alice grinned at her girlfriend. "Told you to go for her."

"You did, but see how patience rewards?" Alice dipped low, placing a hand on Kotone's chin. "May I tilt your head up and kiss you?"

"Yes." Kotone let out a breath and Alice brought the girl up from the floor, catching her lips. Where Yukiko was a warm campfire, a comfort that kept Alice coming back to her building flame, Kotone was a bonfire, on the edge of scorching but a beacon in the moment. Kotone was greedy for fuel and Alice was ready to give all she had. After a few seconds they separated, Kotone letting out a long satisfied sigh. "Okay, not how I expected this to happen."

Alice stole another kiss from Yukiko, a reminder that she mattered as much. Alice held each of their hands, "So, to be clear. This is about more than kissing. Got it? We gotta kick Chronos' ass so I can date you both the way you deserve."

"Deal." Kotone's eyes fluttered open, her face a deep crimson. Yukiko snorted. "Hey, like you don't blush either!"

"Yeah, I do. But it's funny to see." Yukiko dragged a hand through her hair. Kotone mock stomped her foot. "It's a good day, got a friend back. And now she's obligated to spend time with me."

"Yeah, I guess I am. Oh no, I have to spend time around Alice and Yukiko." Kotone held a hand to her forehead, feigning a half faint. Alice's heart felt warm and happy. "Uh, I know that we just like, sealed some things up. But I think Kuon's only going to talk to you Alice. She keeps kicking me out."

"Well. She was on my to talk to list. And not for what we just talked about. At least not yet. Note, you two are also free to figure things out with other people. Okay?" Alice squeezed both hands, slipping out of them. "I hope I won't be long. Okay?"

"Okay. In the meantime, I'm going to ask Kotone for all the embarrassing things I missed. Love you." Yukiko stuck her tongue out and Alice stuck hers out in return. "Go, you've got being a motivator to go do."

"Love you too. If she tells you about the eggs, I'm telling you about the oatmeal." Alice slipped from both of them, letting herself into the door labeled android repair. Kuon sat in a chair, her labcoat across her lap and arms on other side of the room. Her eyes locked onto Alice, her face changing the barest hint with a frown. "Hey there. Heard you weren't talking to anyone else? What's up with that?"

"I need to discuss my past and future with you." Kuon was direct, to the point. As always. Even injured, some things didn’t change. Alice pulled over an office chair, sitting next to the android. "I have been a burden on you. Since you were eight if my returning memory units are an indication."

"Okay, no. You're not a burden." Alice laid a hand on Kuon's shoulder, slow and gentle. "And, Kuon it's fucked up that you were you know, half piloted by Mariko back then. I can't blame you for anything that happened in 1999. And since we met on Yakushima, you have been a joy."

"I have? I always have doubts. Which is not what I used to think I was." Kuon tilted her head down, staring at the lab coat. "I feel like you are telling me what I want to hear."

"Well, a little. But what you want to hear is the truth. And doubts are good. I have them, I push past them a lot but I have them. They stop me from making mistakes." Alice hummed, pushing towards the corner of the room. She grabbed Kuon's right arm, the weight catching her off guard. "And, I need you at my side. For what's coming up, I need everyone. And you're part of that."

"I think that trying to fight Chronos is a mistake. You should take Aika's deal for more time. Yukiko is awake, I heard her." Kuon countered, no hesitation. It brought a smile to Alice's face, because it meant that she wasn't focused on being the problem. "Why are you smiling about this?"

"Because, it means I convinced you of part one. This is part two. I refuse to take the deal. We're going to fight her." Alice looked into Kuon's eyes as she began to insert Kuon's arm, thankful that the android's body accepted it with no trouble. "Do you know why?"

"Because you don't like being told what to do. But is this the moment to do that? When everyone's lives are at stake?" Kuon's frown remained, the barest hint of frustration in her voice. "Why is your wish more important than their time?"

"Because I'm not fighting out of spite. I'm fighting because we should." Alice felt a fire blaze in herself, her eyes wide. Kuon didn't react, studying her. "Think about the other side of this. I take Aika's deal. I lay down all of humanity to die. All of Earth in fact. I refuse to do that. When we can get stronger."

"I understand. You are gambling for victory, you are not spiting Chronos. I do not agree that we can win." Kuon shook her head, her frown fading to something neutral. Alice shook her head, shooting over to the other arm. She held it up for Kuon. "You are certain?"

"Nope. But I have to try. Have to." Alice hummed for a moment, considering. "And the other reason? The apocalypse can't kill me before I finally grow tits with how my chest hurts."

"That would-- no, you are making the point that you want to live with your tits." Kuon helped Alice pushed the arm in. Alice pat her on the shoulder. "I will go with you to fight. I do not know if I believe in this, but I owe you my help."

"It's a start. I'm going to get you there. And I think I know the first part. I'm making you something to wear." Alice pulled up Kuon's labcoat, helping the android to follow her. "What do you want?"

"I don't know anything specific. But, I think something practical. Like my labcoat. I do not understand how this is going to convince me you can beat Chronos." Kuon's hand held onto Alice's the plea clear. Make me believe. "Alice?"

"Because you need to fight for you and not me. And to keep something that means something to you, that is what matters. I fight for me, all the time. I fight for everyone, but also for me. You fight for me and little else." Alice lingered at the door, leaving the rest for another time. "So, you have to send me your specs so I can make it fit perfect. And it's going to be completely yours."

"I... do not understand. Yet. But I will try to."

Good enough for me, for now. I have all month.

Chapter Text

"Welcome to the Velvet Room." Igor's high pitched voice drew Alice into centerstage. All her rabbits had been marked dead over a month ago. Alice curtsied to him. "You understand that your time on stage is coming to a close and soon?"

"Well, yeah. Either I beat Chronos and then what's next or I lose. Not a whole lot either way." Alice walked over to his desk, looking over the deck of cards he had dealt out. Most of her bonds' cards glowed. Hifumi and Kuon remained in the dark. Even with Ann and Junpei unconvinced still, her bonds with Temperance and Magician remain powered. "You just wanted to say that or is there more to it?"

"Many guests need a push. It is an old habit to assume you would need one." Igor raised his hand, Alice's persona cards orbiting in a halo around his head. The cards flew together and apart, some into Lavenza's grimoire.

"What my M-Boss is saying is that you are very active with your bonds and pursue what you think they need. You adapt when needed. It's truly wonderful to see." Lavenza stepped forward, a smile on her face as she trailed her fingers through her hair. "The next steps are the hard ones. They will require everything you can give. Are you willing?"

"Duh. I don't want to, but I'm going to." Alice admitted, a little serpent of fear running through her body. She wanted all of her life after this. But if she died to give everyone else theirs? "Look, you know what Yukiko did and how much I understood that."

"We do know. That is a difficult choice you have made." Lavenza bowed her head, her grimoire shining in her hand. "When the time comes, remember this vow."

"Well, if I wind up like Yukiko, I expect a thousand cranes for me too." Alice joked to a chuckle in turn from Lavenza. "But also, Aika hasn't even come back yet. So, don't tell me to write my will yet."

"Oh, I believe that getting you to let go of what is yours is quite difficult. Farewell, honored guest. We will see you more, we're sure."

------

"Hifumi, mind if we talk?" Alice bombed into the bus seat next to the girl. Hifumi made a surprised noise as Alice landed, not expecting her to be on this side of town. "I skipped. What with the apocalypse and all."

"You skipped school to ask me to do something we can't do." Hifumi sighed, leaning her face on the window of the bus. Alice shrugged. "This is going to somehow go like last time. You tell me it's my choice, I say no. Something happens, I change my mind."

"Always been your choice. But, I kinda hope you say yes from the beginning this time. I'd rather avoid something making you feel like you need to step in." Alice laid a hand where Hifumi could choose to grab it. "I get it's scary. I get that what we saw was big and terrible and awful. But it's coming no matter what. And I could use some strategy help."

"Then concede. That is the correct answer against an opponent that you cannot beat." Hifumi's response was instantaneous, not a single pause. She wasn't giving things a second thought, her strongest quality abandoned in panic. "That's your strategy."

"Okay, not helpful. Hifumi, I want you to not think of it a little less like shogi." Alice flexed her fingers around her friend’s, reminding Hifumi that they could be close on this. That they were friends, working on this together. Hifumi sighed. "Alright, fine. imagine that we can do enough that Chronos can't freeze everything. Only most of it or even some of it. I want to be able to fight to lose less."

"You want to make it hurt for them. That'd be fine if we knew how to defeat someone who bends time. What is your solution?" Hifumi's eyes moved to the side, catching a glimpse of Alice. The Wildcard smiled at her. "Don't tell me that's my job. I don't know what to do about time travel."

"Think of it like a bigger version of Sakuya." Alice tapped her chin, letting the flippant thought linger. It wasn't that crazy of a comparison, was it? "He creates stasis, she reversed entropy. Which is funny because that's what she wants to give us."

"You want me to figure out a way to catch a god of time off guard. We would need a level of coordination that we have not shown." Hifumi lifted her cheek off the window, looking toward Alice and taking her hand. "Can you achieve that?"

"We can together. Need you and Shiho to help me. So, yes, we can. We can do this for sure." Alice squeezed Hifumi's hand, sealing the deal in her heart. "You had doubts, but hey, here we are."

"Here we are. A way to bleed power and coordinate attacks. I'll consider." Hifumi released Alice's hand, digging out a notebook filled with Shogi diagrams. Her paper and pencil began creating arrangements of SEES. "You praised me for my ability to think twice and yet since I met you I act on impulse more."

"Well, I'm a bad influence sometimes. I think that your comfort with me led to some of that impulse. Because you didn't think you had to with me for your safety I'd guess." Alice shrugged, watching Hifumi try and reject formation after formation. "So, you got comfortable and what was technically a defense mechanism with utility got thrown out?"

"Also, I panicked a lot. Don't forget that. Just have to fight the panic. So, thanks." Hifumi shut her notebook as the bus slowed to a stop. "How many more?"

"Junpei and Ann. I'll get them. Don't worry about it."

------

"You're still serious about this, right? Because it still feels kinda wild to date my best friend's girlfriend." Kotone drummed her fingers on the roof of her car, her foot bouncing on the sidewalk. Alice blew her a kiss from inside the car. "Cute, but not an answer."

"It's an answer, it's called I want you to calm down and get in here and drive." Alice smiled from where she was leaning over the driver seat. Kotone let out a dramatic sigh. "Hey, look, you know I hard commit to stuff. So, when I say I want to date you and Yukiko, I damn well mean it."

"Yeah. You do." Kotone pulled open the car door, using her hip to push Alice back into the passenger seat. Alice gave her a retaliatory headbutt in turn before sitting back up. "It's not what I expected. I knew you had a thing for Yukiko. I liked hanging out and being close with you. And then, well, you were committed to her during her coma. Which isn't a criticism but it signaled how serious you were."

"Yeah, it did. And, like, to be fair until I could talk to her I wasn't going to make a move." Alice laid her hand on Kotone's thigh as the heiress weaved through the traffic of Iwatodai. "And, well, sorry if you ever felt like you were less because of the order I went through with that."

"I don't hate what you did. I don't think you did anything wrong. I'm failing at my goal here." Kotone babbled as Alice gave her thigh a squeeze, warm in spite of the December cold. "It was to say, I'm lucky. Because you get me. For a long time in fact. You just like, nailed that I was alone a lot of the time. I was all cut off from everyone. Had to look the part and I didn't look like me."

"Yeah, well, I could understand being alone. Until I came here, that's really what I was. So, took one to know one. But also, I see you now. You're caring. Like bottom of your heart from digging down to the bottom caring." Alice leaned her head back, smiling towards the gray sky of December. Winter just meant cute tights, not all the depression this one wanted to bring. "Plus you're excited, willing to go to some impressive lengths when you stop caring who's watching."

"This is about the hockey game, isn't it?" Kotone grimaced with a chuckle. Alice didn't have to recount the scene. She was going to anyway.

"Oh, you mean when you and Junpei got in a shouting match about if you could have made that shot? And then you noogied him until Akari tried to sweep your legs to rescue her boyfriend?" Alice teased to a series of faux exasperated sighs. "Look, it was hot. And not just the noogieing Junpei part, but also the way you were just being the most you possible."

"Good to know that giving Junpei noogies is a way to look good. And I'm trying to do that more. Just sometimes I have to be Kotone Shiomi, the Heiress." Kotone straightened her shoulders out as she lapsed into the awful British accent again. "Because if I don't look good at eighteen it will be harder to control my company."

"Yeah, that would suck. But you know, stopped the apocalypse they're responsible for is pretty compelling. And if that fails, I dunno, we'll figure out something else." Alice leaned her head on Kotone's shoulder, the woman relaxing with her presence. "Plus, I'm not the board. I'm more important."

"You are. And I know that you'll have my back but I want to feel like I'm doing something. Make up for the apocalypse. Make up for Sakuya." Kotone drifted into a parking spot, removing the thrum of the engine. "I can't."

"You don't have to make up for them. Be better than them. Which, I think you'll do." Alice tilted her head up, kissing the side of Kotone's neck. Her girlfriend sucked in a breath, her eyes fluttering as Alice peppered her in more and more kisses. "And right now, it's time to let the heiress be dead. Time to be Kotone, known goofball."

"Yeah, maybe." Kotone flashed a grin as hey piled out of the car and headed for the laser tag arena. "So, you ready to destroy some people?"

"How was that ever a question? We're going to terrorize those poor other people." Alice couldn't help the mania that landed on her face as the two of them sat through the line. Dumb heavy vests on and large plastic guns in hand, they were launched into space.

Well, an eighties level glow in the dark aesthetic of space. Glowing stars stuck to black walls that had the texture of elementary school carpet. Mirrors bought ten at a time from Junes hanging in the middle of a hand painted Jupiter. The ever present screaming of children as red lasers bounced around the mirrors. And the final addition to the tacky cacophony, the spraying of water vapor all over.

And during all of it, Kotone and Alice were at each other's sides. They only stopped firing when it was the other in the reflection, their weapons tearing through all challengers, adults, children, goth teenagers who didn't know better, all of them. And with each kill, a stolen kiss. It was the only way it would be fair after all.

------

"Weird." Akane said as she slowed her pace, taking Yukiko's wheelchair to a crawl in the process. Alice took one final skip, careful to avoid the sidewalk where the ice had sprouted last night. "I never thought this is where we'd be. Yukko willing to fight again."

"Well, it's not fully fighting so much as healing. I'm going to be your fall back point. If I'm doing well enough." Yukiko smoothed out her pants, looking over to Alice. "I was told that wasn't negotiable."

"It's not. If you're going to get hurt worse, I'm gonna lose my mind making another thousand cranes for you. I'll do it, but I'll hate it." Alice pat her girlfriend on the head before looking towards the ocean and its steel waves. "Sure, none of this was likely, but I wouldn't be surprised that Yukiko would help. When it's important, she always has."

"It was just a struggle to acknowledge that I wanted to. Hard to when you're feeling buried in guilt. But that's not what I feel anymore." Yukiko poked Akane in the arm, getting the girl to look at her without reservation. "And part of that is Alice, but part of it is also you. You also didn't give up on me. You didn't let me wander off into a frozen mountain and become a yokai. So here I am, ready to try and keep living with the weight."

"Well, you're my friend. Be pretty shitty of me if I didn't keep it up. And yeah, Kotone fucked that but she and you are unfucking it. Which is kind of the running bit, isn't it?" Akane stretched a leg, sending the snow away from her. Alice nodded. "So, how do we determine if Yukiko's ready?"

"We're going to make some trips through the low levels of Logos. If she can keep herself going during it, we'll bring her up at the last moment." Alice added, keeping an eye on a wave as it built towards them. With each second it grew, gaining height and freezing splash radius. "But, right now, I'm just glad you two are friends again."

"I miss you lightning running friend. Don't miss bandaging you up though." Yukiko snorted as Akane tapped her on the forehead. "Stop crashing so good."

"Weirdo, you're lucky you're pretty great. Because you take way too much pleasure in our wipeouts I swear. It's wild what you'll do and get away with."

"Stop wiping out in a funny way. I've accepted that part of my job in the relationship is to fall in a funny way. The other part is to tap her on the head for pushing others away." Alice snorted as Yukiko gave her a swift kick to the leg. "Love you."

"I know you do. I just didn't need to be called out." Yukiko despite the kick didn't have a hint of malice in her voice, instead looking towards Alice with a serene smile. "And yeah, I have to work on that. Like someone has to work on not busting into my room with breakfast."

"I have to make sure you eat. How was I supposed to know what was going on." Akane’s face lit up in red, the poor girl had the worst luck on going into rooms and seeing more than she wanted. Yukiko shrugged. "I wanted to make sure you ate!"

"I was." Alice winked and Akane made a dramatic fall into the snow before beginning a snow angel. "Babe, think I'm going to have to move you over so I can deposit Akane there. Think she died."

"Run her over and check." Yukiko's words made Akane roll through the snow and drag Alice down with her. "Guess I have to get you both."

"I won't let us die together!" Alice pushed Akane out of the way as Yukiko's wheel tapped her hip. Alice faked a convulsion for half a second before both girls jumped out of the snow. "That was a fucking mistake, I'm freezing my dick off now. I want to go home!"

------

"Did you wait for Shiho to be gone?" Ann crossed her legs and arms, glaring at Alice from her shared bed with Shiho. No one was going to ask her to have a separate room for propriety's sake or any other nonsense. Not when she had gone through so much because of the Chairwoman. Her eyes had light to them now, the blue a highlight rather than all that could be seen. Connection and no longer filling her body with poison had done a lot for her. "Kind of a creep move, Alice."

"I did it so you wouldn't feel ganged up on. Or obligated." Alice explained as she sat on the floor in front of Ann. She lowered her head towards the floor. "I want to ask for your help. Against Chronos and Aika or however that winds up at the time."

"You want my help." Ann's voice was terse, all of the little bubbling emotions she had reclaimed since turning into vapor. "Why do you want my help? It's not like my persona is fully under control."

"It's getting under control more and more. And I do want your help. We need your help." Alice kept her head low, her eyes on the floor. She wasn't going to risk making Ann think she was considering herself the better of the two. "I want to fight Chronos. But I know that everything we've succeeded at has been because of a team effort. And you have a powerful persona and you were able to disguise your signal that one time from Shiho."

"I could always do that. But I don't think that I will matter. Because if you win, you win. If you don't, you don't. What would it matter if I was there? It will hinge on you, won't it?" Ann wasn't going to hesitate, was she? Alice shook her head. "You have the power. You're linked to her. So why do you think you need me?"

"Because it has never gone well when I assume I'm the answer. I might be the important part but I cannot do it without help." Alice answered, peeking up at the scowl of Ann. "I don't like asking more of you. Not after what the Chairwoman did to you. Did to Shiho. But I don't have a choice. Because you may know that I'm how we'll do it. But I know I'm weaker alone. That's what I have learned time after time this year."

"You're weaker alone." Ann repeated, her voice dreamy for a second. The scowl faded in micromotions, her eyes closing. "You didn't want to ask?"

"No. Because I wish that you had never gone through the process of getting your persona. I wish that you got to live a normal life. But that wasn't true for either of us, right?" Alice focused on Ann's closed eyes, the tiny flicks of movement as she waged a war within herself. "I want to make sure you get a chance at that normal life after this. What you're owed."

"And what are you owed, Alice?" Ann opened her eyes, a sudden scathing torrent of emotion in her voice. And Alice grinned at the flood of rage from the girl. "Who are you to carry this cross foisted upon you? Who are you to decide that I deserve a normal life while not looking for one of your own? Do you think you own what my life will be?"

"Not. At. All." Alice fell into a teasing voice, waggling her finger at Ann. "I'm not into the idea of a normal life. And I assumed you were, because you were mad you were hurt. Because you were denied."

"I was mad cause it hurt!" Ann squealed at Alice in rage and nothing could have made Alice feel more assured about where this was going. "I think if I could have done this the normal way, I would have! But I didn't get a choice and neither did you. I'm glad you think so much of what I deserve, but maybe I want this to not be normal!"

"Good! So, are you in?" Alice knew the answer from the snarling grin on Ann's face. The girl's eyes flashed with a passing headlight, a brief sheen of gold. Ann nodded as Alice stood up. "Perfect. Tell Shiho I platonically love her and to be as loud as she wants. Bye!"

Alice ran from the room as Ann hurled a pillow at the back of her head.

------

"What's up girl?" Junpei pulled the bat back, watching the batting machine wind up. Alice kept to the other side of the fence, she didn't want to risk having her face smashed in. She’d hate to hurt Junpei for it after all.

"Came to talk. Been trying to figure out how to speak to you. My old pal Junpei." Alice gripped the chainlink fence, rattling it with tension. The batting machine fired. Junpei swung. A clang. And a digital celebration of a single. "My old pal Junpei who needs to get his head in the game."

"Can you blame me, my young friend Alice?" Junpei's teasing didn't have the same energy. He was slow to bring the bat into position for his next swing. "I've been fighting almost as long as you. I've been kind of a doofus for a lot of it. And this is way bigger than I thought it would be. I wanted to be a hero and yet, here I am hitting singles in the cage."

The bat clanged. The scoreboard roared. Alice snickered, "He says, hitting a double. You wanted to be a hero and you are one. Like. There's no question about that. In big ways and small."

"I don't think so, not really Alice. Because at the end, what does it matter if we all get frozen in place. No one's going to care about it. Not even the few people who know." Junpei twirled the bat once as the machine spun up. Another ball. Another clangor. Another triumph. Another double. "If we're frozen for all time, what am I supposed to do?"

"Look good in the last moment. And I think trying to fight a tantrum throwing time god looks pretty good. But that won't matter, you're the last one who isn't on board at least a little bit." Alice ran her thumb over a link in the fence, feeling the pinching metal of creation's flaw drag at her skin. "And, I think you're the one I need most."

"I think that's silly. You got Kotone. You got Kuon. You got Yukiko maybe, even if she shouldn't be fighting. What do you need me for?" Junpei swung the bat. Another clang. Another triumph. A triple. "You can cover fire with any of your personas."

"Can't cover my old pal. I need you because you're part of why I rein in my impulses. If it weren't for you, I'd be way worse." Alice shook her head as Junpei tapped the pause button with his foot, glancing back at her. "I'm serious. I remember how much of a bitch I was then, how short sighted. And because of you I'm not. You got me one of the kindest gifts of my life when you helped me with that sewing machine."

"That wasn't much. Just, what you needed." Junpei blushed, releasing his foot from the pause pedal. The bat swung. A clang. A triumph. A homerun. "Best I hit all day."

"Well, cause you actually see your worth dude. I could never replace you on the team Junpei, because I need to have my old pal to lean on. And heading towards the apocalypse? I need it more than ever." Alice took a step towards the door. The last ball flew. Junpei swung and the ball shot straight to the homerun target. "You just needed to be reminded of that."

"I guess so. Shit, you didn't even talk about fighting a god and I want to get in there and tell Aika to fuck off." Junpei grinned as he tapped the bat against the side of his foot. He tossed it in the air, catching the striking end with griptape towards Alice. "You're next."

"Sure, but you need to know I was awful at Little League. And you don't need to be reminded that we can beat gods. We already beat the hard part, being dumb teenagers who couldn't get along." Alice swung and missed. "We're dumb teenagers who can get along now."

Chapter Text

"I see you're all here." Aika stood at the door to the dorm, her bandanna down around her neck now. Alice nodded. "You have made your decision?"

"Yes."
"Duh."
"Obviously."
"Of course."
"Come on, really?"
"Why wouldn't we?"
"Like Junpei said, duh."
"Affirmative."

"Yeah, we have. All of us. We're not interested in either side of the offer. Sooner or later, we're going to fight." Alice tried to ignore that Aika's eyes locked onto Yukiko. That the girl who heralded the apocalypse was staring into her girlfriend to divine something. "Aika. I know your focus locks in but I think this is important."

"It is. It's why my focus was where it is. I know that you have gotten all those closest to you for this. But it is not their choice. It is yours and yours alone." Aika looked to Alice, one hand on her bandanna. It was the second time that Alice saw anxiety from the girl. Since she found out she was part of Chronos. That was the sea change. Alice shook her head. "I know that you do not believe it matters, but it is your choice. You are the only one who can do it. Please. Can we talk?"

"Sure. Right here. With all of us. It might be my ability, but we're using it together." Alice reached into the pocket of her dress, feeling the sculpture within. The last gift from Aika. The girl who would be a god grabbed Alice's free hand and dragged her into the snow outside for New Year's. "Aika."

"It is important. It is my last night with any semblance of who this being is. And I would like for you to give me an answer with a full understanding." Aika's pleading made Alice hold up a hand to the rest of SEES. None of it would change her mind. But Aika would be gone, that was true. One last gift. One last conversation. "Thank you."

"Well, I can give you that much. I do still care about you, other than the part where you hurt Kuon. Pretty fucking mad about that still." Alice let Aika drag her away from the bay, up towards the hills overlooking the dorm. "What is your final pitch?"

"It is not a pitch. I know you. I am only explaining myself for my own edification." Aika was calm in her voice, but her fingers pulsed along Alice's wrist in an erratic pattern. Her watchmaker heart gone. "You have the option of a month or three. Of memories for one month or none for three. I would give more but time is absolute in most cases. The damage done to time by humanity's actions must be repaired by then."

"Okay, got it. So one month till we're gonna fight Chronos. Not like I've spent this month slacking. Been picking lots of fights in Logos. Strangled the Reaper in preparation." Alice tilted her head up towards the abyss of the sky, the stars shining down on them. "You really have to doom everything because a bunch of nineties assholes did that?"

"Everything is doomed. I have to rejoin Chronos. And when I do, time will flow away into him. It's a matter of how long. Because if you kill me tonight, you have more time with them." Aika's fingers squeezed around Alice's hand, the invitation clear. The invitation that was Alice's to deny. "And you won't take it."

"Damn right. If you want to help me, where am I going to fight Chronos?" Alice squeezed Aika's hand back, still dried out from working with clay all the time. Still an artist's fingers. "And what are you going to make in the meantime? Miss seeing your creations."

"I have made something, yes. And you won't be surprised. Logos. The top will fully materialize. You will see Chronos there and in it me." Aika separated their hands, her form warbling for a second. The gliterring snake, the falling eggshells, the clay trying to harden. What Moirai had turned into that first night. "You understand that the world will be born anew when this happens. In all potentiality we will meet again."

"Maybe we will if I fail. Maybe we'll even remember. But, I'm not going to count on a cosmic reset for shit." Alice pulled out the sculpture form her pocket, the one Aika had given her. The sign of their meeting. "You said you're disappearing. I want you to take this. To remember what it was like to give a person something."

"Only you could return a gift and have it mean something." Aika's eyes were watering, the girl blinking away the tears. Alice knew there was more to it. And Aika would find that soon. "In a way, I am returning something to you as well as my final sculpture. A reminder of what was within you."

Aika held up her hand, a card spinning above like those Lavenza and Igor used in the Velvet Room. Pictured was the androgynous figure coiled with a snake. Aika's true form made a persona. Alice took the card, feeling a rush within. A name within. Phanes. The god from which all was born. Alice welcomed them into her heart. "So, how'd you do that?"

"I was there for a lot of your trips to the Velvet Room. I learned." Aika's finger danced along the shell sculpture, operating the hinge open. Inside the treasure Alice had folded was joined by two other pieces of paper. A crane, hand folded and colored the same shade as Aika's hair. And a sticky note with a lipstick kiss in neon purple. "A wish for me to get better?"

"Yeah. Being just a piece of god is a terminal condition I think. I care about you, like I said. Wish you didn't trash Kuon. Wish you didn't have to leave. That we could have kept getting to know each other. That both of us had a real amount of time, instead of this. But in a way, we had ten years too." Alice took a step back, letting a snowflake hit her on the forehead. "So, when I win. I hope to see you again. Not a piece of Chronos. Aika."

"I don't think you'll get what you want in any case. But that does sound nice. Good night Alice. I wish you luck." Aika walked into the darkness. Alice kept staring at the stars. It was all that was left to do.

-----

"Alice!" Yukiko waved into the mirror where she was doing physical therapy, one leg in the air and the other on a balance board and both arms pressing on the bar for being upright at all. Alice did a twirl to show off her latest dress. Neon pink vinyl over a cotton underdress, with matching tights all of them glittering in the light of this doctor's office. "You look great!"

"You do too, for what you're doing." Alice walked over, taking Yukiko's sweat drenched hand and draping it over her shoulder. The hard part was already done, but that didn't mean there wasn't work for Alice to do for her girlfriend. She helped Yukiko over to the wheelchair, placing her down with care in the seat. "How do you feel?"

"Tired. But excited." Yukiko took a towel off her bag, mopping up the sweat of her work out. It was a messy look, but Alice didn't think Yukiko could be more gorgeous. She was putting in the effort to live, every way she could. Even if she wasn't there for the end, this was going to be enough. "I am good to go, to see whatever you have planned."

"Well Yukiko, Iwatodai's your oyster today." Alice reached into the bag, pulling out the van keys and jingling them. "Part of it is my plan, part of it is whatever you want. Which can be going back to the dorm and resting if you need."

"Oh, it's a good strength day." Yukiko grinned as they rolled out through a shoveled sidewalk to the van. It had been a busy few days since Aika took her gift back, away into the endless stillness of Iwatodai. And Alice didn't feel any panic about it. They were making good progress to the top of Logos. The Shadows were challenging enough to keep them busy but not overwhelming. And by the time Alice stopped reflecting about it, she was in the driver's seat and Yukiko was strapped in and ready to go. "Hit it."

"Of course." Alice did wonder if Kotone slipped the driver instructor some money as she peeled out of the parking lot and onto the streets of Iwatodai. But that was a concern for later as the two of them made their way to the outskirts of town. "After all this, what's the plan?"

"Try to figure out graduating. Try and make more art. See you." Yukiko's hand glided along Alice's forearm, her fingers burning hot. "It's strange, how much a little coma changed how I felt."

"I don't know if it's strange, gorgeous. You had a life altering moment into a life altering moment. You went from unwilling to risk anything because you thought you might ruin it, to doing it." Alice wanted to take her hand off the wheel and grip Yukiko's hand as they talked. Do everything in her power to make it clear her pride in Yukiko. Even if it was terrifying at the time. "And now, look at you. By my side. Any art in mind or is it a surprise?"

"Surprise, duh. You're the one surprising me now." Yukiko retracted her fingers, just long enough to wrap her hair in a hair tie while Alice parked. And once the vehicle was still, the Wildcard pounced with a barrage of kisses and answering squeals from the girl. "I didn't think this was your plan!"

"Hmmm, slowly freezing van could be a fun date, but I do have real plans. You just looked good." Alice flashed her a grin as they began the process of unloading a wheelchair and then a human into it. All while the sun illuminated snow around them, a halo around the path to a concrete building with giant windows that reflected the glare of the sun into the sky. "All secure?"

"All secure." Yukiko tilted her had back and the two of them were off to cross the snow and into the museum. A short discussion about headphones for the tour, a few passed yen and pieces of paper later they were off into the heated museum. "Didn't expect a museum."

"You like art, I like art. They have a good fabric exhibit. But there's also what's in this room." Alice pushed their way through a curtain, into a darkened room. A speaker turned on, the sound of rain splattering against windows. A projector kicked on, shining darkness onto the walls. And then with a crash of thunder the show started. A light panned highlighting different parts of a bamboo forest, drenched with rain. The lightning arced across the walls, a following stream of visibility.

Alice held tight to Yukiko's hand, the two of them in silence as the world screamed around them. Each peal of thunder in the aftermath of revelation, each drooping bamboo stalk, all of it made Alice's eyes water. This false storm on a false wall, all of it artifice but all of it still felt real. And from the way Yukiko leaned her head on Alice's hip and her cheek damp? The feeling was shared.

Because in a way, it was the two of them. The world had set them on a contrived collision course. Yukiko manipulated into SEES, left to scream in the dark without help. Alice's life manipulated to keep her out of sorts and unstable enough to take any lifeline, vibrating with rage the whole way. The setup was fake but the catharsis was real. And in the process of their screams and quiet drowning, they found the forest of one another.

The display sped up for a final flurry of lightning and thunder, the speaker vibrating Alice's skin with its flow of frustrated scream of electricity. The light whirled around them, encircling them in what the totality was. A final peal of thunder, a final strike of sight and they were finished. The room faded into silence and darkness.

"Okay, museum was a good choice." Yukiko's voice strained for a moment before the two of them retreated. Alice didn't want to see it start again. It would have shattered the magic. "Did you know how that would be?"

"Only that it existed. They were vague online. I'm pretty glad for the surprise." Alice dabbed away the few leaking tears. She could cry easier than ever but she still didn't have tits. Asshole body. "So, mobiles or fabrics."

"Mobiles, I was wondering why the building was two stories." Yukiko's fingers gripped her wheelchair tight, taking off before Alice could react. She smiled and chased after Yukiko, pecking her on the cheek as they came to rest under a series of harps hanging from the rafters on thick nylon cords. "Hm, what do you think this one is about?"

"Angels? But, kinda, nothing for it just to be that harp means angel. Isn't doing anything." Alice watched as one of the harps twisted back and forth, the microcurrents of the air teasing it back and forth. "Or maybe about the precarious placement of music programs? I mean, I've never taken a music class."

"I did a long time ago, but it wasn't well funded. But if that was the goal, they could have done more than hang harps maybe?" Yukiko tapped her chin, an unconscious mimicking of Alice. Enough to make Alice's heart warm. She ran her fingers over Yukiko's shoulder. "Maybe... think it's just that music will lift you up?"

"Might be. I guess they can't all be thundering bamboo forests." Alice leaned down, catching Yukiko in a kiss. A casual stealing of a moment, something she wanted to do again and again and again. Until the world was supposedly ending. And beyond.

------

Pauwlonia Mall was quieter than it had been in a few months. Which was frustrating, when Alice wanted the noise and hustle to find ideas. The whole point of changing work locations was to find something new, some relief from feeling locked up on a design.

"Young miss?"

Alice tapped her eraser on the notebook, her latest dress plan fighting her tooth and nail. She'd made something out of a subconscious honoring of Aika, she had the snake dress for Yukiko. She had the "hockey stick violence" dress for Kotone, where hockey sticks beat up the putty monsters from Featherman. She was missing something for Kuon.

"Young miss. Why are you trying?" A man's voice broke her out of consideration and set her on edge in moments. The man's clothes hadn't been washed in days, at least judging by the stains. His body wasn't far behind with knotted hair and messy stubble surrounded in small patches of dirt and food waste. Like Sakuya, but not him. Sakuya was a threat, this was an annoyance. "Why? Don't you know the great stillness is coming? When we'll all be at peace?"

"Uh huh. You can get on me for trying, but you're the one trying to make me join you. That's effort." Alice sighed, glancing around the mall. Several other people like him were milling around, pamphlets with torn edges in hand. "You know, proselytizing feels like the opposite of calm."

"You can be saved. Those who can achieve peace be--" The man cut himself off as Alice stood up, walking away. He flailed after her, his pamphlets waving. "Come, talk to our leader!"

"Pass. You're being duped." Alice looked over her shoulder as the other missionaries tried to corner someone coming out of a pharmacy. She stomped towards them, waving her sketchbook in the air, "If you want to sit down and die, go ahead and do that away from them!"

The other people scattered as the brown haired man stood up straight, pushing a hand through the hair of his short crewcut. Alice raised an eyebrow in surprise. "Sup, Koto. Didn't expect to see you in Iwatodai."

The boy, or at least last Alice heard, straightened up in surprise. He looked her over and Alice looked over him in turn. He had on much better fitting pants than the Yasogami uniform she used to lend him, a good button up that was tight without showing off how he binded. Koto smiled at her as he watched the missionaries run off. "You look like you're doing well. Still loud. In a good way to be clear."

"Hey, I didn't trade clothes with you for three months to not at least know a little bit about what you meant." Alice grinned at him, pointing to the nearby Chagall. "Wanna catch up? I'm off what I was doing."

"Sure, it's been almost a year now." Koto flushed pink for a moment before following Alice into the cafe, the two of them served coffees in moments. "Well, I guess you've stuck it out at Gekkoukan?"

"Yeah, that remark about making it less time then at Yasogami was an unintentional lie. Not that I'm much better behaved, but I got a girls' uniform without a fight." Alice flicked her spoon to the side from sweetening it. Koto smiled at her. "That helped. Made like real friends. Mostly cause I like listened to people for once. Sorry about that."

"I wasn't the best at saying anything about wanting to be friends. Not great at it still, even if I feel like I'm doing good." Koto took another sip of his coffee, closing his eyes. "Sis still works in Inaba, so we still live there. I'm here for a debate tournament. Needed something for a headache when those people showed up."

"Yeah, they sprouted up in the new year. Kinda awful. And even if you didn't do the best doesn't excuse that I just hurled clothes at you and you at me. Still he, just to double check?" Alice pointed to an affirming nod. "Rad. Cool. Still she. Sucks about Inaba, that place bored me to tears. Iwatodai's pretty alright, just got done with taking a girlfriend to a nice museum on the outskirts. If you have time."

"That sounds nice. I don't know if I'll have time, but it's good to hear there's something to do. Although, I don't know how much I would get to experience here in contrast to Inaba. I still study all the time." Koto's fingers tapped on the table. Alice might have changed a lot, but beyond the confidence to look himself Koto hadn't. But that was a lot, wasn't it? "Alice?"

"Nothing. I got a little more introspective. So, you arguing against Gekkoukan? Better bring your A-game. Akari's a pretty stubborn bitch, love her." Alice smirked at the little consternation on Koto's face, the scrunching of the eyebrows. "Hey, I'm allowed to call her that, I cracked her egg."

"Oh! I guess you did change a lot. You were always aloof and kinda intense. I guess the intense didn't change, but you talk now." Koto admitted, squirming in anticipation of a jealous rage or shot across the bow. Alice shrugged, returning to her coffee. "Iwatodai was that good to you?"

"Yeah, it was. Hard at times. Easy at others." Alice set down her coffee cup, studying Koto. He was fidgeting, his fingers almost crushing the cup handle. "Hey, talk to me, what's wrong?"

"It's stupid. You grew, I didn't. Wondering if I need a big change like you took. Get more confident, actually know when someone's serious. That sort of thing." Koto knocked on the table and Alice shook her head. "Huh?"

"Okay, so, it involves making a change but moving might not be the answer. Cutting down a little on the studying to hang around others? Might help." Alice tilted her head towards the bag for the pharmacy. She had a feeling it was a stress headache that Koto self inflicted. "You might not even need the headache meds then."

"Okay, point taken. It's hard, sis expects a lot. Says I can't coast just because I changed my gender. Which I was never thinking but that's where she is." Koto sighed into the empty cup. "Maybe a big change would help to not hear that."

"Or tell her to fuck off and trust you. Who knows if that's the right answer, but it's the one I'd give at this point. You're kind of a nerd about school shit and that works for you. But you gotta do something else." Like I sew and kick ass but he doesn't get to know that. Koto nodded, a smile forming on his face. "Like, just be honest about it. Don't back down. I bet you got this."

"Thanks Alice." His phone chirped, an alarm. Koto scrambled up and out of the booth. "Crud, I have to go meet the team for dinner. Thanks for the save and coffee!"

"Thanks for joining me! Good luck!" Alice waved, keeping her thought that Akari might whip his ass to herself. It was good to see him, give him a nudge. She hoped he would take it. One more reason to win.

And the incident before was one more reason to track down Sakuya. For now, Koto had reminded her of what Lavenza spoke of with the Sun during a reading. Someone with troubles who is living life in the aftermath. What Alice would be soon enough. And it was with the light of Kuon.

------

"This is the conclusion I have come to. You believe that I needed something to wear that was unique. I think that it would be correct for me to try and make something unique." Kuon held up a blowtorch in one hand and three metal bars in the other. Alice tilted her head. "I would be grateful for anything you make me. But it would be a tie from you to me. This would be a tie of me to something else. And you told me to question your directives."

"I did! I'm excited to see what this becomes now." Alice toyed with her sketchbook, looking down at the last parts of the dress she had in mind. She could make them a pair of matching ones for herself and Kuon, two halves of the sun. This way the two could have a tie and Kuon could have something she made for herself. Kuon nodded, setting out the metal into a triangle on the stand. She handed Alice a welding mask. "Your eyes going to be okay?"

"Yes. Thank you for checking." Darkness ate Alice's vision, until the sparks began to fly. Each blast of light highlighted Kuon, her impassive passion to create etched in the steady hand and eye. The bars melted together, the heat spreading and making the whole piece malleable. Every few moments Kuon would reach over and turn the metal by hand as it cooled to the brink of losing its malleability. A twisting and turning triangle. "How do you feel?"

"Warm. I'm enjoying this also. You look good turning metal like that." Alice smiled at the back of the mask, no way for Kuon to tell it beyond a voice. And it didn't stop Kuon from a slight nod as she continued to work. "Why this?"

"Because a geometric shape represents something stable. The twisting shows that even with the stress, the stability remains. Something I have learned. That even as difficulties emerge, a stability remains." Kuon took a step away, letting the metal cool. Her hands had stood up to countless fire spells from Shadows and only had a thin covering of soot. The piece cooled from glowing orange to blackened steel as Kuon approached Alice and removed the welding mask. "What did you see in it?"

"Not that, but it's wonderful that's what you see. For me, it was that you wanted to create. You wanted something that spoke to you." Alice took a stand, laying her hands on Kuon's sides. She pulled the android closer and for the briefest moment the android's eyes flutter. "I wonder. Is this when you'll believe me?"

"Believe what, Alice?" Kuon tilted her head up, her eyes focused as Alice towered over her. Alice grinned, feeling in that gaze, that flutter of the eyes, that this was the moment. When Kuon got it.

"That you're gorgeous. That you are someone worth pursuing." Alice rocked back and forth, Kuon unmoving but smiling. And not even a small one. For a normal person it'd be the smile of a good day. But this was something else to Kuon, something far more. "Good. Now, I'm a little bit of a tease. Because you and I are going on a date. Once I finish my dress. Yours will be done and optional."

"I understand. You wish to see me naked again." Kuon joked and Alice cackled as the android kept looking at her. That was all she needed to know for the future with Kuon.

-----

"I want to join, yeah." Akari had sunk into her hoodie, a play up of egg stereotypes as she caught the missionary. They had an hour to get escorted to wherever Sakuya was holed up. Alice had donned the clothes she had the night of her awakening, all black to blend into the night as she followed Akari. She knew that the rest were there in the night, just not visible to her. Which was by design. But it made her a little nervous, to have anyone out of her sight as they went for Sakuya.

But it wasn't like he had the jump on them, they were going to have it on him. And Shiho would make sure of it. Once the Still Hour started.

Alice fought all her usual ways to move for this. She didn't prance or skip or hop. She focused on quiet, Akari and her guide. That way when the guide stopped and opened a warehouse door, she was ready.

And then midnight hit and SEES emerged. Akari caught her crossbow after Hifumi tossed it. "Disgusting that they let this happen to them."

"Some people want calm." Sakuya's voice echoed from a window on the second floor. A catwalk is what Alice guessed. His black pistol pointed through the window. "You would deny them calm before the end?"

"Bro, we're not letting the end happen." Kotone pointed her naginata up at him, the boy snapping the pistol towards her. "I don't think you get it. Our family fucked this up. Fucked you up. Pretty bad. We heard from Ann."

"I don't care about that. The end is coming. And we shall be saved in its embrace. Saved from passion. From those emotions that betray us." Sakuya let out a slow breath, a momentary tremble of his gun. Alice counted SEES around the area. Kotone. Akari. Akane. All here to play their part. Hifumi, Kuon, Junpei and Ann were making their way up from the back of the building. At least according to Shiho. "Did you come here to say that you were sorry that the Chairwoman hurt me?"

"No. We came here to stop you." Akari fired her crossbow, Sakuya summoning his persona in response. The bolt remained frozen in air, centimeters from Sakuya's face before falling. Akari shook her head. "It's rather disappointing that someone who is salivating for the end has such severe issues with being granted it."

"This is not peace. This is strife." Sakuya explained, steadying his hand. His thumb went for the action. Alice sucked in a breath and pulled her Evoker up to her head. Sakuya snapped the gun to her and fired.

"Phanes." Alice wasn't going to let something like a bullet stop her. The birth of the cosmos answered her, the Serpent around the figure devouring the bullet aimed at her. "Okay, good talk. Because right about now is when you lose?"

"Antigone." Hifumi's voice echoed behind Sakuya. Hypnos began to move but a blessed skull flung him through the window. Kuon followed, her fist keeping Hypnos in place with a blow. Phanes guided the snake of creation towards Sakuya, a whip of the tail sending him across the street. Junpei and Ann sent twin flaming spheres from on high to keep him corralled as he tried to get up. A thunderbolt stiffened his arm, the pistol dropping from his hand. "Good work."

"So. Bro." Kotone leveled her naginata at him. His persona began to fade but Phanes dashed to it and grabbed the back side. It froze in place, allowing Kuon to drop to the ground. "Thanks everyone. Where were we? You fucked up. You could have actually reached out, ever. You could have not tried to kill people. You could be trying to not usher people to the apocalypse. I miss the old you."

"Dead. Been it. Still will be." Sakuya's voice remained dead as pushed himself up to look at his sister. "This form will be too. Sooner rather than later it seems."

"I don't want to. Don't make me." Kotone snarled at him. Alice felt a pit in her stomach. She walked over to her girlfriend and pushed down the naginata. "Alice?"

"You're going to keep trying, right?" Alice looked down at him, the sopping mop of a man with a gaze undeterred. "To end them. These people. Because you're hurt and won't admit it. You're not calm. You're broken and pretending you're calm."

"Yeah, dude. You're not really calm if you keep trying to kill people. Kinda the opposite of chill." Junpei glanced to Ann, the girl's persona roiling with blood again. "Hey, I think they're not trying to kill him."

"I know. I'm showing him that his calm isn't worth it." Ann flexed her fingers, Hypermnestra mimicking the motions with ribbons of blood between them. "You conquered your Shadow or whatever. But you didn't figure anything out about connection beyond trying to end these people. Beyond hurting people. Beyond trying to use me as a weapon."

"All in the service of the Great Stillness." Sakuya began to walk away. Alice snapped and Phanes cut him off, still holding Hypnos. The persona vibrated in Phanes' grip, cracks appearing in it. "You're not going to do anything."

"No. We are. You're actually probably only alive right now because Phanes is holding your persona. You're going to have to go on suppressants while you get help. And then, maybe something will get figured out." Alice looked to Kotone, the girl's eyes averted. Sakuya's shoulders dropped. "Make it easy on us. Come quietly."

It wasn't hard to get him to take the pill from there, for Hypnos to fade. And for the night to end with a cult left with a message to go home.

Chapter Text

"Guess that this still doesn't feel good." Alice settled onto the edge of Kotone's bed, her cup of Triple Seven coffee in hand. Kotone nodded, her head on her knees. "I know it's looking at the brightside, but you have time with him now. To try and sort something out."

"Or for him to refuse until he dies of suppressants." Kotone leaned her head on Alice, jostling the coffee for a moment. The Wildcard took a sip, the acrid taste blazing down her throat. "How are you drinking that?"

"Needed to be awake for you babe." Alice admitted, slipping her boots off her feet to clatter to the ground. She put one arm around Kotone, the other clutching her ability to stay awake. "And yeah, he might do that. But at least you had the chance to try with the world's most stubborn man."

"I do. Hard to, like, rationalize. Or equate? Sure, that's his voice. But it's not the Sakuya I lost. He might be dead. Or just like, buried inside a mountain of shit." Kotone's finger traced around Alice's wrist, her face dewing with tears. "What am I supposed to do?"

"Figure it out, unfortunately. Don't know if there's a book on, 'my brother sucks and did a bunch of crime and has superpowers.' And if there is, I'll read it after you, it has to be wild." Alice joked to a sleepy snort from Kotone. The girl slid down Alice, wrapping an arm around her hip. "You getting cozy?"

"Soft girlfriend with a whip of iron." Kotone mumbled from her resting spot. Alice cackled for a moment. "I'm tired, be nice to me."

"I am, I'm not using the whip. You can sleep. I'll be here in the morning." Alice hoped she could keep that promise for a long time as Kotone began to snore. "Love you."

-----

"Time's fucking weird, Kuon." Alice spun in the mirror, the yellow skirt of the dress flaring out just right. A tinge of pink went across Kuon's face. Alice could kiss who ever made that call for a response. Her own dress faded from yellow down to a smoldering sunset's orange. And Kuon's went from the deep orange of a sunset to the red light of morning. Where Alice's expanded out, Kuon's stayed close to her body. Alice was pleased with herself and the fact Kuon had a smile and a blush told her why she should be. "Don't you agree?"

"I don't think Time fucks. Or at least, it missed its chance." Kuon's deadpan worked great for her jokes in Alice's opinion as she took the android's hand, pulling her close. "Is this not the night for those jokes?"

"Hmmm, not exactly. Tonight's about you and me." Alice leaned her forehead on Kuon's, those beautiful green eyes full of her. As they should be for the evening. The two of them stood there, Alice's breath short for a moment. "And, I wanted it to be special. You deserve a romantic first date that fits you."

"What's that?" Kuon tilted her head and Alice wanted to have her dessert first when the hair draped across her arms. She wanted to claim Kuon, right that moment. Kiss her until one of them was stupid. She preferred both.

"Well, first, you and I are going to watch the sunset in these dresses. Because I can't forget how you met me." Alice smiled, pulling herself away. The picture sat on her wall, the sunbeam lighting the way to this moment. "Then, you and I are going to dance and you're going to get to ask me every question in your pretty head."

"That is a lot of questions, you are going to want to do something else eventually." Kuon added as the two of them made their way up to the roof. Alice snagged a little stereo along the way, rescued from the same thrift shop that had her sewing machine. She set it on the wall of the roof, joining it herself. Kuon stood on the wall before dropping into a seat in a sudden motion. Alice giggled. "Am I funny?"

"Yes, incredibly. You're a goofball and the most serious person I know at once. It's kind of impressive." Alice tilted her head back and forth, a grin on her face. Kuon pulled her closer, a sudden but gentle movement. All that fear of her strength but she had perfect control. "Comfortable?"

"Yes. You will not be there." Kuon's fingers slipped under Alice's leg and then she was in the air. All the fear of the world falling away from her should have been in her heart, but it was Kuon. Then she was in Kuon's lap, the woman's arms keeping her close. "Better."

"I think this is just an excuse for me to sit in your lap. And the good news is, I love it." Alice giggled as Kuon made sure she couldn't go far. It was the right timing, the sun beginning to sink into the sea. The blue of the sky began to be overwritten in blazing orange, the sea a calm inferno. "I meant it about time being weird. We're two days from the apocalypse. And I don't feel like it."

"I understand. I have begun to no longer fear it myself. That it will take you and the others away." Kuon leaned in a technical sense on Alice's shoulder, the pressure a fraction of what it could be. "I believe that we will achieve something. Enough to preserve. And if not, I will still have this moment in my mind."

"Exactly. Sure, Chronos is mad and wants to freeze us in place, but we can carry this with us." Alice loved how the sun began to paint even the stubborn snow in orange now. As if the fire of possibility couldn't go out. "And, look, if we can beat literal programming with love and care, we can beat a god. Rules are stupid."

"Rules are stupid." Kuon parroted and then her lips were on Alice's. Warm from the sunlight or what powered her, Alice couldn't tell why but they were soft. She cheated. I love her. The motions weren't soft, a hunger that Kuon wouldn't show with her eyes as she urged Alice closer and closer. Each moment, the two of them tangled arms around each other, fingers using the fabric to claim all the space there. Alice bit Kuon's lip, the last distance to claim and the android groaned while smiling into Alice's teeth.

Time was weird and Alice wasn't paying attention, the sun gone and winter's chill trying to steal them. But she didn't care, Kuon was here, right now. Kuon followed Alice's lead, trading kiss for kiss. If one set of lips hit neck, the other’s hit the wrist. The graze of teeth was eternal. And then breathless, Alice pulled back. Her cheeks hurt from grinning. "We're dancing. I love you. Holy shit."

"I love you too."

-----

The possible last day of the world was strange. How do you fill that time? Alice's first plan was to sleep in, having filled a spare room with mattresses and girlfriends. It was a good start, waking up with everyone she loved. Her fingers tangled in Kuon's, Yukiko's in Kotone's hair and heads on everyone's lap. She was going to be sore, but that's what healing spells were for.

Then it was breakfast with Junpei, the two of them parking themselves in a booth at the ramen restaurant. Sharing what they started their friendship with.

Then it was laying flowers on Akari's mother's grave. The one solemn moment of the day, because Akari couldn't avoid being a killjoy. But Alice couldn't blame her. The future was still scary.

Then it was climbing the warehouse that Sakuya's cult was in, Akane at her side. The two of them made sure no one had stuck around and wasn't taking care of themself. But a cult without a leader isn't much of anything.

Then it was to Kotone, the two of them playing game after game of slapjack. Because sometimes you want to slap your girlfriend. And sometimes you slapped the jack by kissing her. It was silly, it was light. Kinda ruled.

Then it was down to the roller derby arena with Ann and Shiho, the last game of the season. Alice pushed through the soreness, slamming everyone out of Shiho's way. And for the first time, she got to hear Ann whoop in excitement as Shiho skated backwards past the final defender and hands on hip. Alice couldn't wait for the next season.

Then it was getting dinner with Yukiko, the two of them destroying bentos during an evening walk and wheel along the sea. Yukiko wasn't going to be able to go up Logos. But she could help keep Shiho going. And she fueled Alice with love and rice balls too.

A game of shogi with Hifumi, the two of them trading pieces and shouted names for attacks. Alice didn't mind losing. It meant she had picked the right person to come up with strategy.

Then, mandatory relaxation with Kuon. The two of them resting together as the time ticked away. Hand in hand, heart and circuit entwined. They'd been linked together by a heinous bitch and outlived her and found a better way. Alice considered that a fucking victory.

And then, time. It was always about spending all that time before now. Logos extending into the sky, the people of Iwatodai staring in horror as their movements slowed. Crystals and clocks and orreries marking time all the way up as they stared from below.

A flurry of fighting past Shadow after Shadow, past attempts to slow them down, to tell them to let entropy happen. A cage on the world that Alice flipped off at every opportunity. One that she, her knife and her soul wouldn't let continue.

And then Chronos. Aika. The one and same in the moment. Her head rested within the center of an endless sequence of gears. She smiled as she looked at Alice. It was going to happen this way, they both knew it.

Aika's face clouded over, replaced with a golden mask. Gears turned in place of eyes, ticking every second. Time stuttered with each tick, the rhythm irregular. Shiho's prophetic gas guided her past the places time had been shattered. SEES was behind her, stopping the stream of Shadows flooding up from Logos.

The clockwork didn't try to fight Alice. It tried to outlast her. Every blow from Phanes would break a gear, sending it flying. And then time would break again, putting it together again. Even with using Phanes to freeze pieces in place, the mechanism continued. Ticking away time after time.

Well, there was a person to talk to about that, wasn't there? Alice didn't bother with the mechanism, gliding past the newest pocket of slow time and going for the mask. And like she had on Yakushima, she smacked a face of metal. But there was one bit more to her now. The Universe didn't like the idea of becoming still, it hungered for motion. It hungered to live, to continue, to not be shoved into a box. Art shouldn't be static at the end of the day.

"Hey Aika, let's get you out of there." Alice grinned as the mask shattered under her palm, the girl within revealed again. She grabbed her cheeks and pulled, the mechanism straining around her. Each moment it tried to rewind and Alice felt the Universe deny it through her. Her skin burned, her bones ached. Parts of her became translucent. She held on. "Aika, I'm a stubborn bitch! I said I wanted to know you past this! Let it happen!"

"Time waits for no--" Aika didn't get to finish as Alice hurled the girl out of the mechanism. It all stopped. The shadows froze. SEES froze. The mechanism ended. The stars extended around them. "What did you do?"

"Well. I'm stubborn." Alice joked, watching her body flicker. Where she faded, so did Aika. "Guess you are too."

"Guess I am. Didn't want to let go. Either of us." Aika held up her hand, golden gears forming over it. Alice flexed the same fingers, threads replacing those hands. "I think it's time for one more piece of art."

"I think we have all the time in the world right now. Let's make it pretty enough to justify time continuing."

-----

The first thing Alice saw when she woke up after it all were cranes glued to a posterboard, forming the words, "Fuck Time."

"Yeah, fuck time." Alice wheezed as she tilted her head to the side. A desk had been set up wherever she was, covered in paper. A guide on how to fold more cranes was hanging underneath it. "Nine hundred ninety nine, huh? Guess they were going to go for a thousand in front of everyone."

Alice grabbed the bed rail, pulling herself up to confirm that she was in the same hospital room. She'd only spent two months here visiting Yukiko. She could claim it was hers under squatter's rights probably. She pressed her thumb to the call button. "Hey, I woke up. Weird how you didn't have to take a tube out of my mouth."

It was a rush of activity from there. She learned pretty quick that her body had been stuck in some sort of stasis for a year. She hadn't needed to eat or drink or breathe or anything. Working to make something gorgeous outside of time had its perks.

Her friends had actually made three thousand nine hundred and ninety nine cranes for her recovery. Kuon and Yukiko were the first to see her, the android pushing the wheelchair for the other. She smothered them both in kisses, half tempted to drag them into the hospital bed and hold tight to them. And more than that. But that wasn't allowed at the hospital. Nursing staff were cowards.

Then it was Kotone and Akari, rushing over from Shiomi Solutions headquarters. The two of them hadn't gone far, working on getting Shiomi Solutions on the straight and narrow. Junpei brought ramen when he got off work and Alice was at Kotone's apartment. Akari and Junpei got kicked out well before it was bed time.

Alice waited for time to break again at midnight. So did the rest of her girlfriends. It didn't. That's when Alice let herself sleep again. She didn't lose a year this time.

Shiho and Ann called from where they were staying in Inaba. Alice sent her condolences, but the two of them seemed to be enjoying the rustic atmosphere. Except for the fog and the Shadows within. Alice guessed that things didn't change that much. She hoped the Yukari girl they were keeping an eye on didn't have to lose a year too.

Hifumi called that evening, the video call showing her pile of library books was taller than her. She seemed happy as she talked about working on a degree in studying brains. She was one third of the way to an early bachelor's.

Alice couldn't be more thrilled to see her friends were all well. She had a lot of catching up to do.

-----

"So, your plan is to marry and then get the gender marker swap and raise a stink in court." Akari pressed two fingers to her temple, a mockery of the Evoker both of them knew was in her desk. "This is an awful plan that will really piss off a lot of people."

"Exactly. Since when have I let that stop me? The goal is to get people pissed off on my behalf." Alice reached over the desk, stealing one of the mints Akari kept. She popped it in her mouth, savoring the flavor. She wasn't really sure how long it was for her mind up there, but she missed food and flavor. Even if she didn't need them then.

She missed Aika too. But that was an inside thought.

"I know that's what you want. I'm not saying it's not going to work, but you better pick the wife that wants the fight. I'll find a lawyer to do wills with the other two." Akari sighed, shaking her head as she popped one of her own mints into her mouth. "You've been awake for six months and you're planning a political attack on Japan."

"What can I say, I miss fighting Shadows. And I'm not allowed in Inaba until I get more medical clearance. Sucks." Alice shrugged, shooting Akari the best puppy dog eyes she could. And the unfortunate side effect of her relationship with Junpei was immunity to it. "So, this is the next big thing."

"Sure, that's a method of logic. It's good to have you back, thank you for the headache medicine." Akari shook the pill bottle, a smile on her face. "Really, I did miss you."

"Missed you too. Missed all of you."

------

The night before the wedding she dreamed, as she often did, of Aika. Of the two of them cutting swathes of cosmos to fashion together their art. Of trading questions back and forth as they worked.

Aika was a lot more emotional than she looked. A lot like Kuon. They both were full of little tells. You had to watch the lips for Kuon. For Aika, it was all in the fingers. Long taps of her fingers meant she was nervous. Short ones were a thinking motion. If she pointed, she wanted it then. If she put her hand on it, she wanted your help.

It was pretty easy to understand when you got to know her.

Alice wished they'd paused more with all that time. That she had learned about Aika in more ways. Those were what she dreamed about the most. And tonight, it was Aika holding her chin as the two of them floated through space. Lips that rended time and put her heart together, fingers that tied it all together and ripped away artifice bringing Aika closer. And in the end it wasn't going to be enough, Alice would be human. Aika would remain in the cosmos.

Maybe that was why she saw her in her dreams.

-----

"Kuon, after everything we've been through together I can believe we made it here. Because we're tenacious and annoying and I love you. The glint of mischief you get, the way you always question and explore and try for more. The way you try out art in ways I've never thought of. No one has." Alice glanced to the centerpiece for the reception, a bridge made of clocks, all epoxied together. Alice wiped away a tear as she chuckled at the goofy thing. She looked up again at Kuon, her gorgeous wife in a suit and bowtie. Well, about to be wife. "So, I'm going to be there for you as much as I can."

"Alice, you taught me how to live. Made me face all of the lies that I was given to hold. You have cut through every taboo that I did not need. You are why I know I am Kuon. I do not need you but it is a paradox because I need you to not need you." Kuon's face lit up with a smile, the second biggest Alice had seen. The first when she walked into the hospital room. "I am excited to spend the rest of our time together. I am excited to see who and what wonders you will bring into my life."

"Kiss already!" A brunette girl, still in high school shouted from the back. Ann elbowed her. But Alice wasn't one to make the audience sad as she sealed her marriage with a kiss. Then her polyamory with two more.

-----

"How is she?" Alice looked over from the dresser she had half assembled, her wife standing in front of a pod. Inside was the start of their daughter, well her first body. Not the way Alice expected to have a trans kid. But next year she'd be older than she ever thought she'd be. If you didn't count being outside time.

"She is almost ready. Her cognitive wave is stable, even without a persona. I will have to thank Hifumi again." Kuon took a step away, helping Alice to her feet. The two of them held hands, watching as she charged up for her initial boot. "We need a name still."

"I still think Bandersnatch is a good name for any kid." Alice joked to a glare from Kuon. The kind that was actually annoyed, judging by the eyebrows angled downward. "Okay, serious suggestion. She's kind of going to have bits of both of our wisdom. Sophia?"

"Sophia." Kuon nodded as the pod dinged. The two of them raised their hands together and pushed the button marked Intialize. Also birth. Alice helped with that part.

Their daughter emerged from the pod, blinking her eyes and smiling wide. "Hello! You're my moms, right?"

"Yeah, we are Sophia. Come here and hug me if you want." Alice squealed as she lifted her daughter in the air with a hug. All the while Sophia laughed and Kuon kept her revival day smile. It was one of the best days of Alice's life.

-----

"So. How many of these are actually dreams?" Alice spun on a star, her dress spanning worlds in a royal blue. Aika smiled at her, her dress absorbing the light of the universe. "Are we still building the statue? Or did the world reset and we're building the new world and you lied to me?"

"You finished. Your time awake is real. But so is this. Chronos is time and I am outside it." Aika took Alice's hand, the two curtsying at one another. They spun as the music of forming worlds began. "You and I can know each other, but I can never return to time. But I can see there."

"Do you like what you see?" Alice spun Aika on one hand, the girl's motions in perfect rhythm. A simple nod of acknowledgment, a tight squeeze of the fingers. "Can they visit you? Can you meet my daughter?"

"Not now. Not without something extraordinary. But it is enough to see she makes you happy. And that you create something, even in motherhood." Aika stood on tiptoe, kissing Alice's hand. "I love you. Live your life."

"I wasn't going to stop. You better keep bringing me up here for cosmos dates. Now that I know they're real especially."

-----

"Sophia, slow down a little bit." Kotone scolded and the wheelchair skidded slower. Yukiko shot Alice and Kotone a glare over her shoulder. "You fell last time."

"Skill issue on my part!" Yukiko yelled, sticking out her tongue. She was able to maneuver some days without the wheelchair, but she didn't have it in her today. That was fine. "Sophia, you tell them."

"Aunt Kotone, Aunt Yukiko last time leaned too far. We're going to do it perfect this time." Sophia started off again, Kotone chasing after her. "Aunt Kotone!"

"I'm supposed to be the second most irresponsible one, get back here!" Kotone shouted. Alice couldn't help laughing and skating after them. Another day in the family. She'd have to go home to finish sewing dresses in advance of the trip. "You keep this up, I'm making your mom take another month of vacation!"

"That'd be my summer break, that's not a threat!" Sophia yelled back as Alice caught up. "How long are you going to be gone, actually?"

"We'll be back in June, we wanted to make her take a break. Someone is still trying to make up for lost time." Yukiko giggled as they started coasting down the hill, Kotone hot on their heels. "Hey, technically not our wife! Make sure she doesn't smuggle any sewing needles into the car!"

"Then Sophia has to slow down or I'm packing them for Alice and not packing your sculpting tools!" Kotone shouted and everything ground to a halt. "Since when am I responsible?"

"2010, you turned eighteen and turned Shiomi Solutions into an ethical company and made the Shadow Ops." Yukiko recited the tired phrase, even by Sophia's fourth year of life. But that was fine, the monotony was good. "Good, we're all caught up. Now, let's go see that horror movie. I want to see if the body count beats the last one."

"That would be difficult. There were two hundred thirty six in the last one. It was very gory." Sophia gave the perfect cover to let Alice steal kisses from her partners. Well, she didn't need the cover.

Life was good. Dreams were good. Time went on. And nothing was going to hold them back long.