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Nagi was already tired of whatever was going on this week at Blue Lock. Blue Lock was only the most elite magic academy on the continent, which obviously meant that every student there would be super intensely excessive about everything ever a.k.a. a HUGE hassle. Seriously. Hassle levels, off the charts. On the first day of school, Isagi and Barou got into this big school wide fight that Principal Ego not only let slide, but also gave feedback (legitimate constructive criticism on their use of magic!) on, which probably tells you all you need to know about this school.
She wakes up. She goes to school, confused on why everyone's auras are visible to the common eye today— then she remembers it's spirit week, so most people (not all people) (definitely not Nagi, especially) are wearing some sort of of charm to amplify the spiritual energy exuded by the campus ghosts. (Because it's spirit week. Haha.) This energy went to the occult track's studies, and Nagi refused to contribute to that specific furthering of education in anyway. Just because she could. Take that, Ego.
The interior of the school is decorated. Just, decorated. Use your imagination. Nagi doesn't really want to put any more effort into looking at the glittery banners and golden balloons. Ah, wait— dammit, that probably counted for some attention paid to her surroundings. Hmmmph.
"Isagi!!" Across the hall, Nagi can see Bachira jumping onto Isagi's back, chirping her name.
"Bachira!" Isagi yelps, almost losing her balance, but luckily catching herself by putting a foot out. Bachira doesn't let go regardless and most likely would've been completely content if both of them were to fall. "What's up with you?!"
"Hehe," Bachira snickers, releasing her legs from Isagi's hold and swinging around with one swift motion so that they're face to face; arms looped around Isagi's neck. "Go to Grom with me!" Bachira exclaims, shoving a curiously spooky teal flower into her face.
"O-oh!" Isagi looks behind her. Then back at Bachira. Then points at herself, mouth making a surprised o shape. "Me?"
"Yeah, you!"
"Oh. Oh, wow! Yeah. Yes! I'd love to."
Isagi smiles, gently taking the flower and blushing pink as Bachira cheers and drags her down the hall as she kisses her cheek. Bachira chatters loudly as they go, their friends and classmates cheering at the proposal. Nagi spots Bachira taking the flower and putting it behind Isagi's ear before they disappear together.
Wow, thinks Nagi, nonchalantly continuing her walk down the hall. I do not care for Grom at all.
Nagi is thinking about the next time she should water Choki, when she abruptly slams into somebody while turning the corner. She's thinking about how this is like in every shoujo ever as papers and books fall to the floor. Unfortunately, they both don't fall to the floor— they just jostle each other slightly. And Nagi feels a sting from the hit at her forehead.
"I'm so sor— oh. You. The lazy genius."
The second oh sounds a little more disgusted, as if the fact that it were Nagi made things worse. This could only mean that she just bumped into Mikage Reo, Blue Lock's super soldier/all-rounder witch/chameleon. Nagi's… rival? She dyes her hair sometimes, usually seen with it in a little ponytail— right now it's a boiling red color with purple beginning to show at her roots.
Reo knows Nagi's name, so she doesn't know why she's acting like she doesn't right now. I swear people say genius here like it's a slur, Nagi thinks.
There was a misunderstanding in the first semester of school that led to the two of them having a witch's duel, it was a whole thing and a long story— the point is that Nagi and Reo don't exactly spend that much time together, but they are certainly aware of each other. Very aware. Like how Nagi was aware of Reo's initial disdain for her, and how Reo was aware that Nagi thought she was the biggest hassle of them all. Nagi just wanted to be left alone and that made Reo really mad this one time for some reason. Probably because she didn't turn in her part of this one paper, but whatever. Reo's cooled down since then, ever since that partner project they had together in Summoning class where they had to act as parents for an orphaned baby familiar; but Reo's still kinda… weird, around Nagi. Nagi doesn't really get it. She doesn't really get people, to be fair, but Reo is just totally weird.
Like right now— Reo's picking up her books. She's being weird when Nagi reaches down to pick up the five-petaled white flower (there's a note attached?) she dropped, making some sort of high-pitched screech sound.
"Here…" Nagi drawls . Reo snatches the flower back in a way that could only be described as the exact opposite of lazy. Nagi's eyes lazily flicker back and forth from Reo's face to her hands. "…Okay."
"It's just— it's—" Reo stammers. "It's private."
The loudspeaker suddenly crackles to life, Ego's voice broadcasted around the school. Blue Lock students murmur and chatter in some sort of nervous anticipation that Nagi, again, really doesn't get. She knows spirit week is for Grom at this point. She doesn't really know why anyone cares. Isn't it just a party?
"Attention, Blue Lock students. This is your headmaster speaking. This year, I have the privilege of bestowing the honor of Grom Queen to Mikage Reo. You will perform this duty accordingly, or you may lock off. Until then." Ego signs off with a menacing laugh.
Grom Queen…? Huh… sounds impressive.
"Nice going, Reo." Nagi turns to Reo and offers her a thumbs up. Instead of going like, 'Wow Nagi, I appreciate your support. You're so cool and pretty and totally hot! I'm actually a tsundere/himedere hybrid, which is why I antagonize you so much!', Reo instead has this creeping, disbelieving horror on her face. She clutches her things tighter to her chest, and backs away as she glances around the hallway, blinking at the other students in the hall whispering.
"It's Reo…"
"Oh, Reo got chosen…"
"Reo's our Grom Queen…"
Nagi blinks; confused. "Reo, what's wrong?"
Reo bolts off without looking back, eyes screwed shut in fear. Nagi still doesn't understand why.
"…weird."
Nagi wanders into the grand auditorium (the cafeteria, they just call it that to sound fancy) where Grom is apparently being set up by the student council and other volunteers. It's unfortunate, because she was going to take a nap here. Oh well.
There's a nearby podium with a shiny red button on it. It's extremely easy for Nagi to inch closer to it and press the button. She didn't expect it to actually do something— the ground begins to rumble as it opens up. It feels like something out of the Choose Your Own Adventure games she'd play on her mirrorphone, featuring Henry Stickmin. Two stone walls pull up beside her with a loud grating noise, an arsenal of various medieval weapons displayed on them. Nagi blinks at them curiously. Just like Baldur's Gate 3…
"Wow… a Baldur's Gate 3 themed dance…" Nagi mutters to herself like a detective observing a crime scene.
"They're not for decoration."
Nagi looks up to see Reo solemnly sitting alone at the highest bleacher. Even while her face is downcast, she makes sure to jump over 3 sets of benches when she makes her way to Nagi.
"This arena's where I'll make my debut as Grom Queen," Reo answers, voice carefully controlled.
"Right…" says Nagi. "Hm… aren't you excited…? It's not like you to be so… so like me…" Yeah, that would be totally wrong… Reo shouldn't be depressed…
Reo raises an eyebrow at Nagi. She shakes her head, and removes a longsword from one of the stone walls.
"This isn't just some dance party, Nagi," Reo asserts with a forlorn look, tilting her head towards the huge space undearneath the floor that Nagi opened up by pressing that button. Nagi peers at the darkness, and begins to notice the seething dark energy festering in the ground; growling and starving and depraved. "That's Grom. Short for Grometheus, the fear bringer. It's a monster that lives under the school." Reo draws a shape in the air, magic fizzling at her fingertips— sparks of purple light smooth out to reflect her mind's image, illustrating her words. "Every year it tries to break out, and a student has to defeat it before it invades the town. Ever the optimist, Ego holds a party and calls it tradition. Grom can read minds and can shape shift— using your worst fears as its arsenal. Anything in your amygdala is fair game to the beast. And my fears are… humiliating."
"Oh…"
"Don't you remember going over this at orientation?"
"Orientation…" Nagi mumbles. "I think I fell asleep. The nap was a 2/10..."
Reo chortles. "'Course you were…"
"I don't get it," says Nagi. "Why don't you, just, um, exit? I mean, like… quit game, or Alt+F4."
"Ha. Cute idea, but you heard what Ego said this morning. If I don't do this, I'll be the one who's, um, Alt+F4'd. But— thanks, Nagi." Reo gives her a little smile and nod before leaving the auditorium, leaving Nagi with a slightly (slightly!) pinched brow in her wake.
Shidou Ryusei innocently pops her head into the room. "Hey, has anyone seen my dragon in here?"
1st Year Representative Itoshi Rin screeches and almost falls off from the ladder she was climbing to pin up a banner, her emo bang falling out of place to reveal a terrified/disgusted expression.
"WHAT?!"
Nagi wakes up at 2-3 whatever AM, her stomach growling at her like an animal. She sighs. If only she could be like Choki and only run on water. Alas.
She leaves her dorm and heads to the school's kitchen for a midnight snack, feeling like that one giant who lives above the beanstalk as she lumbers barefoot and half-asleep to the nearest fridge. She opens the fridge, glowy blue light spilling into the darkness, and rummages around for whatever is food and decides to go for the leftover cherry pie. She doesn't really feel like cutting out a slice, so she opts to get a fork and simply just eat however much she wants out of the tin.
Nagi trudges over to place down the pie at the nearby dining table, gently snapping her fingers to summon a cluster of light. She startles, eyes widening when her spell works and illuminates Reo (hair tied up but loosened, night vision glasses perched on her face) at the other end of the table, quill in one hand and pen in the other— that of which she is rapidly clicking.
Reo doesn't even seem like she notices Nagi's presence, even when she winces from the glaring light.
"Reo."
"WHAUH!" Reo goes nuts, jumping in her seat— her glasses go crooked and her notebook pages flutter loudly. Nagi just keeps blinking at her as she fixes her glasses and glances up at her with a squint.
"…Nagi?"
"Hi."
"…Hi."
Reo doesn't seem sure where to look, but her eyes eventually settle down, staring at the paper in front of her. She sighs. Nagi shoves some pie in her mouth and chews, her stare towards Reo perhaps a bit unsettling. It's the kind of unblinking stare that just— she's just— she's just doing it. She's staring at her. What else is there to say.
Nagi keeps eating while Reo lets her utensils clatter to the table in favor of wringing her hands.
"Damn," says Nagi after swallowing a particular bite of pie. "Chill."
"Excuse me? Chill? I'm going to be— I'm gonna be fighting Grom, Nagi. I cannot chill. I'm supposed to be this— this, perfect and fearless witch, but— when I fight Grom, everyone will just see that I'm… not."
Nagi shrugs. "Kay."
A dip of silence. Reo's hands move up to her hair, where she runs her fingers through her bangs over and over again. Nagi's eyes track the movement.
"…There's really no getting out of it…?" asks Nagi, question floating in the air.
"No," Reo sighs, lips twisting into a frown. "I'm Grom Queen. Unless anyone wants to switch with me— but who would wanna do that?"
"I mean," Nagi chews, then swallows. "I would."
Reo blinks; violet eyes darting to Nagi's indifferent expression. Her voice is soft; quiet. "…What?"
"I'm not really scared of anything," Nagi states apathetically. "And you think I'm pretty strong."
"Yeah," Reo begrudgingly agrees. "Because you are. You just don't try at all— it really pisses me off. You're already this powerful— if you put in the effort, you'd basically be unstoppable! You could be the best!"
"Hmm," Nagi hums. "So if I really tried here, would you still be pissed at me?"
"I—" The words catch in Reo's throat. "I guess not."
"So then I'll do it," Nagi replies, something silver glinting in her eyes. "I'll take your place. Your fears won't be exposed, and I get to live without you bothering me. Sounds good?"
"Oh," Reo exhales, a strange look on her face; gaze fixed on Nagi. "Okay."
Nagi makes a noncommittal sound in response.
"…Do you wanna look at my notes?" Reo offers.
Nagi gives her a look that basically says she really does not want to do that. Reo snickers, just a little.
"Mikage Reo," Nagi declares flatly. "To be your fearless champion, I cannot look at your notes, otherwise I will disintegrate immediately. I am doing you a favor. Please do not make me do extra studying."
"Sure, sure," Reo waves off, as if she won't go on to lecture Nagi anyway. "Whatever you say."
The next day, Nagi lowkey forgets about the whole Grom thing until Reo shows up after class to whisk her away to the training grounds; receiving weird looks from their classmates.
"This feels familiar," Nagi grumbles, training wand loose in her grip, standing opposite of Reo.
Reo grins wickedly, flourishing her own training wand. "Toldja we'd have a rematch sometime."
"You said this was training…"
"It is! This is a spar!"
"Ugh… I hate sparring. I wanna go to bed."
Reo rolls her eyes and continues. "So, what are you afraid of?"
"I told you already. I'm not scared of anything."
"Really…?" Reo says skeptically, a little pointed eyebrow raised. "Because I doubt that. And remember, Grom can use anything you're scared of against you, memories shallow to deep. It's a powerful mind monster as much as it is physically overwhelming."
"Eh…"
"Don't zone out so fast!!" Reo smacks her head. "Ugh, okay— let's just start with a little quickie."
Nagi's eyes go wide; staring at Reo with bewilderment. "What."
"Y'know," Reo waves her hand impatiently, her other hand planted on her hip. "A short duel."
"Okay…"
"So. You ready, then?"
Nagi sighs and languidly brings her wand up in a readying stance. "I guess."
Reo smirks and lifts up her heel to tap the ground twice, before approaching Nagi with high speed, gracetfully manuevering through the bursts of ice that Nagi blasts at her. Reo's moving with speeds akin to a Minecraft baby zombie— to the point where Nagi loses her position from all the frozen fog generated from the dry ice. She glances around, trying to find her, when—
"Boo," Reo grins into her ear; she's jumped onto Nagi's back and latched on, refusing to let go. With one strong fire wire spell, Reo's magic seeps into the center of Nagi's moderately sized iceburgs and rapidly melts it from within. The training grounds are covered in this nice relaxing steam. Reo may have her in a chokehold right now, but Nagi finds herself comfortable enough to fall back on the ground. Reo squeaks, an interesting shade of red blooming on her face.
"H-hey! I won— let me go!"
"Nah…" Nagi says, burrowing into the arms Reo has wrapped around her neck. "I'm good. We should take a break."
"Wuh— we've barely trained!" Reo exclaims sharply. "Don't you think you should work on your counterattack? I don't even think you were trying!"
Nagi makes a displeased sound. "You're actually pretty comfy."
"No I am NOT!!!! Why are you so goddamn lazy?!"
"I simply…" Nagi yawns. "…like… being… comfortable… zzz…"
"There is actually no way you're asleep right now. If you just fell asleep on me, then I'm killing you. Nagi. Nagi?! Nagi!! WHAT IS WITH THAT TENDER PIANO MUSIC PLAYING IN THE BACKGROUND. THIS IS NOT A BONDING MOMENT." Reo glances around before finding Chigiri, focused on practicing a music spell nearby. "CHIGIRI."
"Ack— what?!" Chigiri looks up to glare back at Reo. She looks between Reo and Nagi— the latter nestled into the former's chest—and a look dawns on her face. "Oh. Okay. Sure, whatever, I'll leave."
Reo's face glows even more red, somehow. "That's not what I—!!"
"Byeeeee."
Nagi is trying to nap through an assignment in Potions class, to no avail. Her groupmates for this assignment are Isagi, Barou, and Chigiri: they're all trying to do the work, which derails into a minor argument about what they're supposed to do, which derails even further into a discussion about Spirit Week, which derails again into Chigiri poking Nagi in the cheek.
"Hey, Nagi. I know you're awake," says Chigiri. "I've been wondering, what's going on with you and Reo?"
"Hmmmm," Nagi responds, keeping her eyes shut and head buried in her arms.
Chigiri sighs. "You're no fun to gossip with."
"I mean," pipes up Isagi, extracting a number of newt eyeballs from a vial and laying them out on a piece of parchment. "Maybe there just isn't anything to tell?"
"No, no," Chigiri insists. "There's definitely something to tell."
"As if," Barou scoffs. "I could never understand why the school prince gives that thing any attention at all in the first place, but I don't think she'd stoop that low."
Chigiri ignores Barou. "Nagi, are you going to Grom?"
It's Nagi's turn to sigh. She would love to answer no to this question, but it's just not the truth. "Yes."
"Huh?!" Their whole group turns to Nagi with shocked expressions.
"You?! You're going to Grom?" spits out Barou. "What are you gonna wear? A hoodie?"
"Uh," says a slightly more alert Nagi, who was going to wear a hoodie to Grom. "No."
"I never thought I'd see you voluntarily going to a school event," Isagi comments dryly.
"Yeah, yeah, right!" Chigiri nods fervently in agreement. She shoots a sneaky look at Nagi. "Wait, wait. You actually want go to Grom?"
"Not really."
"Then… why are you going?"
"Reo."
Isagi, Barou, and Chigiri gape at Nagi, yawning as if she hasn't revealed the craziest thing ever.
"You're going with Reo?"
"I guess."
Isagi fumbles with a smidge of pixie dust, incidentally falling into the potion they were brewing and making it go poof!
Nagi looks completely indifferent when all of then go "WHAT?!?!?!?"
Seriously!? The Grom Queen herself?!
She just shrugs.
"Is that why you've been going off with Reo after ever class?" Isagi asks, a note of surprised mixed in her tone. Chigiri whips around and grips Isagi's shoulders maniacally.
"I'm sorry they've been WHAT."
"Yeah," Nagi grumbles sleepily. She thinks of all the grueling (mild) training that Reo's been putting her through. Reo said she was confident in her magic, but insisted that her physical prowess could use some work— thus, Reo forces Nagi to exercise by running laps and attempting pull-ups and it is HORRIBLE. Way more effort than Nagi signed up for. "She's really just using me for my body…"
Chigiri and Isagi go"HUH???" and Barou just rolls her eyes, totally exasperated.
"I mean, I'm fine with it, as long as she doesn't bother me after Grom…" Nagi states, leaving Isagi and Chigiri in a speechless state.
Barou's eye twitches. "Can we go back to doing our assignment now? If I fail because of you losers, then that's on you."
"Yeah, right," Isagi agrees in a daze. She shakes her head and slaps her cheeks. "Okay. I'm back."
"Right!" Chigiri agrees, a determined expression fixed on her face, "Let's brew this thing!"
"Yeah," Nagi raises a fist in agreement, before immediately going back to sleeping… until Barou lifts her up by the hood.
"You're helping too, you little shit!!"
"Shhhhh," Reo tries to shush Nagi through her giggles, even though she's the only one laughing now. Or, trying not to.
Nagi expresses this thought.
"Sorry, sorry," says Reo. "This is just so exciting."
"Is it really?" Nagi says skeptically, following Reo as they sneak through the dark hallway. It's quite the grand hallway, and if their footsteps were any louder, they'd be be echoing far and wide. It's really strange being here at night, because it's usually bustling in the day. "I'm sleepy."
"Then wake up," Reo snips back at her, glancing left and right before crossing a crossroad in the hall while tugging Nagi along.
"Where are we even going again…?"
Reo scoffs and whispers at Nagi loudly. "Weren't you paying attention when I explained?"
"Not really."
"Ugh. I've been doing some research, and I think there's this artifact within one of the school's hidden passageways that'll really up your game!"
"I don't really need it."
"It doesn't hurt to be careful," Reo replies. "Besides, I don't want to be responsible for your death."
"Kay. If I die, that's on me. Can I go back to bed now?"
"No."
Reo sneaks Nagi into the school's enchanted library. The overnight protection seal meant to protect the library is simple yet effective, which makes it easy for Reo to disable it— the library is supposed to be an free resource, anyway, so it would never be too difficult to get in.
The library's ceiling is spotted with glowing little starbits— it looks like the night sky, a huge half-dome in the center of the ceiling. Students have the choice to read or study up there on floating desks or pillows, which are currently put away now. The light in the dark illuminates small sections of Reo's person; Nagi notices the speckle of light on the side of her nose, in her hair, behind her ear, her neck. Reo remains focused on what she came here to do, dragging Nagi to the back corner of a section of the huge library and searching for a particular book. Nagi doesn't really know the logistics of it all, but Reo is murmuring to herself and stops at an emerald green book with a golden spine— then moves to pull out the book from its place.
The book doesn't come out all the way— instead, it reveals a small passageway. Reo turns to Nagi with a proud smirk. Nagi returns the look indifferently because she wants to go back to bed. Reo makes her come with regardless.
Travelling through the passageway, they don't speak much. The stone walls are lined with small shelves of books— old, ratty books illuminated by candlelight. The kind with yellow pages and inky illustrations from long ago— human stories.
The passage twists and turns. Reo seems to know where she's going, but Nagi doesn't know for sure— just follows her until they get to somewhere that looks like it's important: a wide wall with a heavy door with tangled vines sealing it shut. Next to it, a sign engraved in silver, symbols illustrating two sirens in a canoe, one holding a singular paddle. Additionally, it seems to be raining or storming.
Reo taps the silver sign. "This is what I don't get."
"Hm…?"
"This is picture is a clue to opening the door, obviously, but I don't know what it means," says Reo, turning to Nagi with a displeased expression. "Every idiom I've tried, nope. Is this a riddle?? Is this solvable? Is this referencing a folktale, a potion, a spell— nope! Nothing!"
Nagi squints at the image. "Did you… really bring me here for my sake… or yours…"
"Not important," Reo dismisses. "And you know what I figured? Since you're so smart, why don't you take a crack at it? If you can't solve it, then surely I'm not missing something obvious!"
Nagi grumbles. She really does not want to think about this, but the crazed look in Reo's eye gives her the impression that she's not letting this one go, much like she's never letting Nagi's whole supposed prodigy thing go either.
"Um…"
Nagi stares at the picture. She's silent for long enough that Reo starts filling in the space with her own rambles.
"See, the direction of the river— the sirens are rowing upstream— inefficiently, might I add, due to the fact that not only are they going upstream but they also have one paddle and it is very clearly storming. Why do the sirens choose to be in a canoe, when they could easily just swim, because they're sirens? I don't know. I don't know! They're just making it difficult for themselves by staying there."
"…Uh huh," says Nagi. "…Hey, sirens sing, right? Maybe they're singing. Their mouths are open."
"I—" Reo glances at the picture to confirm this. "I thought of that too. But there's no human around, so what could possibly be the purpose?"
Nagi shrugs. "Maybe they're singing just to sing. That seems to be the pattern here, 'cause they're in the boat just to be in the boat. You said it yourself. They could easily just swim."
"Hrum. I guess. So what do you think it means?"
"To me, it looks like… they want to stay there, even if the storm capsizes the boat, and it's totally impracatical."
Reo considers it. "But— yeah. It's totally impractical, considering the storm and the singular paddle and their abilities to swim," Reo agrees. "So…?"
"So what?" Nagi shrugs. "They just wanna be together."
"And that's your solution to the riddle?"
"I guess."
Reo looks to the door expectantly. Her expression drops to something grumpy, promptly after nothing happens. "It's not working. Do you have anything else before I can declare us both clueless?
"Uhhhh, I mean," says Nagi. "Kinda reminds me of this one human song."
Reo brightens up. "Wait— really? Because— I've considered this— the answer could be a song. Just, I don't know what song."
"You know Row, Row, Row Your Boat?"
"No. Is it an obscure song?"
"Iunno. But it's in my favorite movie, so I do know it."
"Sing it," Reo demands.
Nagi scrunches up her nose with displeasure. "Do I have to…?"
"Yes."
"…Don't wanna…"
"Just do it!"
"Way too quiet. It's embarrassing."
Reo groans, dragging a hand through her hair. "I'll sing it with you. Teach me the song."
"…"
"Come on!" Reo pokes Nagi's collarbone sharply. "Teach me!"
"Fine," Nagi whines. "How do I teach you?"
"Hum the melody? Tell me the lyrics? I don't know, and I don't care, as long as you get it done."
"Okay…"
Nagi is silent. Reo crosses her arms patiently, fixing Nagi with a glower as she lets the silence hang between them, clearly not going to budge anytime soon. Nagi trudges through the palpable expectant awkwardness and opens her mouth, unsure what to say.
"Row, row, row your boat…" she starts to sing, low and quiet and breathy. She drags her eyes up to Reo, who gives her a little nod and repeats the phrase a little louder. "Gently down the stream…"
Reo repeats it again, singing strong and steady and certain, starting from the beginning: "Row, row, row your boat— gently down the stream…"
Nagi's voice goes high for her next attempt at capturing the melody, languid and soft: "Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily… life is but a dream…"
Reo copies it with ease. She snaps her fingers at the end, and grins. "The song is the total opposite of the picture, which makes me think— this might be it!" Reo points to the sign brilliant. "See, the boat— the way the boat and the waves are outlined, it looks like an upside down umbrella!"
Nagi tilts her head to see it. "…Huh. Yeah. And if you look at it certain way, it looks like they're going downstream."
"Exactly!!" Reo beams. "So let's give this a real try, alright?"
Nagi blinks, the way Reo stares her down makes her feel like she's under a microscope. She can't help but be swayed by the witch's enthusiasm, a little bit.
"…Okay."
Reo counts them down under her breath, bopping her head up and down as she does so. "One, two, three, four—"
"Row, row, row your boat, gently down the stream," they sing in unison, a harmony blooming like daybreak. The softness of Nagi's voice and the shine of Reo's melt together and stir. "Merrily, merrily merrily, merrily…"
The vines begin to glow— Reo notices, and turns Nagi's head to see, excitedly rocking on her heels. Nagi hears the smile in her voice when they sing the next part together.
"Life is but a dream—!"
The door replays the melody, tone like a lullaby. As it rings, the vines sliter away, and the door slowly lifts with a heavy stone moving sound.
"We did it!!" Reo squees, pulling Nagi in a hug and gleefully jumping up and down— Nagi's eyes are wide open, but Reo detaches herself in a blink, already scurrying forward.
"Can we go now?" asks Nagi.
"Seriously? We just got here," Reo replies as she enters the room, already set on digging in the piles of stuff.
Nagi glances around warily. Something about here is… off. "Reo, I really think we should go…"
"So go," Reo scoffs, continuing to search.
Nagi finds herself holding her breath at that— as if she's waiting to see what she'll do next. Reo hears footsteps behind her, then the rustling of clothing as Nagi kneels beside her; making the silent choice to stay.
"…They're gloves," Reo explains, a focused expression set in her features. "They'll protect your hands from elemental effects... and stuff… it's not enchanted, but they're woven from genuine magic fibers. So. It'll help you."
Nagi just hums in response, and the two of them continue the search together until they find the pair.
Nagi and Reo are sneaking out of the library and moving down the hall, gloves tucked into Reo's pocket, when they hear footsteps trotting to the library. Reo puts an arm out, freezing in place and stopping Nagi.
"Someone's here," she whispers urgently. "Staff."
"Do we hide?" Nagi asks quietly, glancing around and squinting through her nightvision glasses. There's nothing to hide behind around them— and an invisibility spell takes preparation— and the footsteps are getting closer, about to turn the corner to see Nagi and Reo crossing the hall halfway, and the accompanying spot of light is shining like a watchtower—
"What a hassle…" Nagi is saying, when Reo grabs her and rushes, wrenching her against the wall. The edges of her bangs tickle Nagi's chin as she moves her face close to hers.
"Sorry," she says lowly. Nagi can't see the look in her eyes. Reo plucks off Nagi's night vision glasses and tucks them in her pocket.
"Huh?" Nagi replies, confused. "For wha—"
Cutting her off midsentence, Reo kisses Nagi and her eyes go wide. Her gut churns? Her heart flutters? What? It's dark, then it's light, then Miss Teieri Anri makes some sort of exclamation, and Reo pulls away and Nagi is left with lingering warmth.
"I expect that I don't need to scold you two—!" Miss Anri, says warily, a displeased furrow creasing her brow. "You know better— especially you, Reo. Please don't make me catch you doing this again."
Reo sends Miss Teieri a cheeky, apologetic grin. "Miss Anri— sorry 'bout that! We were just—"
Miss Anri sighs. "Just go back to your respective dorms. Do you need me to escort you there?"
Nagi shakes her head no, while Reo goes "No, ma'am!" and the like.
Miss Anri shooes them away, and Nagi is in a daze during everything else that happens after that. She only registers that Reo has brought Nagi to her dorm after she starts to walk away towards her own.
"Uh," Nagi finds herself blurting out softly all of a sudden, lingering at her door. Reo slows in her tracks.
"Oh yeah, right." Reo turns around. She digs in her pocket, and pulls out the pair of gloves— tossing them to Nagi. "Here."
Nagi catches them, the gloves warm in her hands. "…Thanks."
Reo shoots her a smile. "Mh. Night. Rest well. Tomorrow's the big day."
Nagi nods, placing a hand on her doorknob. "Bye."
Nagi thinks she has a lot of thoughts swirling around her head, but she doesn't get to pick them apart much yet, because she's asleep the moment her head hits the pillow.
Meanwhile, when Reo gets back to her room, she screams into pillow and thanks the darkness for hiding how red her face was back there.
It's Grom day.
The auditorium glows with lights and refreshments and chattering students, music drifting in the air as they dance. Reo slips away from the room, a hand lingering on the door before she finally removes it and runs her thumb across a folded piece of paper. Warm, gooey light faintly pours in from the auditorium into the shadow-covered hallway; the buzz of the party becoming something distance.
"Reo…"
Reo quickly tucks the note away in her front pocket, opposite of where the white flower corsage rests on her shirt. She adjusts her sash, which extends into a small cape at the back of her princely apparel; jet black with regal, dark purple embellishments. She taps her foot with the heel of her black boots, frowning. She looks to up to see— Nagi.
"I'm not late, am I…?"
"You are late," Reo tells her— before a snicker she couldn't suppress gets the better of her. "What are you wearing?"
(Meanwhile, a certain Chigiri Hyouma urgently tugs the sleeve of her date. "Rensuke, look— I told you!"
Kunigami looks up and blinks when she sees Nagi and Reo together outside the auditorium.
"Huh. Well I'll be damned.")
Nagi blinks guilelessly. "I wore the gloves."
"…I see that."
Nagi is wearing a black t-shirt, the kind with the image of a tuxedo printed on it, and a long silvery skirt and sneakers. She is in fact wearing the gloves. That's… about it. At least she's not wearing pajamas. Or a hoodie. Take THAT, Barou.
Reo approaches Nagi, appraising the outfit. "You look nice," she says earnestly. "Strange, but nice."
"Thanks, I think," Nagi replies.
Reo pulls off her hair tie, hair falling down to her neck. "I think you need this more than I do," she says as she walks behind Nagi and starts to bunch up her long white hair and tie it.
"Mh." Nagi lets her do it.
"There," Reo says when she finishes. She steps aside to admire her work. "That's more like it."
"And now, introducing our Grom Queen!" Bachira's voice exclaims, amplified by speakers— guess she was the MC for tonight. And oops, guess they've already started the ceremony. Nagi really was kinda late, but whatever. She's on time. She just skipped the boring stuff. She's on time!! "You know her, you love her—! You've at least heard of her… Nagi Seishirou!"
The crowd cheers politely when the spotlight swings to the entrance where Nagi is supposed to be. Reo pushes her into the spotlight; Nagi stands there awkwardly, and exhales. She glances back at Reo, nonchalantly shooting her a thumbs up.
"Wish me luck," she says before turning away and slowly walking foward.
For whatever reason, Reo believes in me...
Reo watches her go.
"Luck," she echoes softly.
Bachira slams the big red button. The floor parts, and students scramble to get away from it, clinging to the sides of the auditorium. The stone weapon walls rise and Nagi opts for a light looking short sword.
She walks down the ramp to the lowered area in the auditorium, and holds out her short sword. "Kay. Let's fight, Fear Factor beast."
The monster— black, gooey ooze, shifts around. It parses itself with whispers and phrases, stolen from the fears of the surrounding students and absorbing them— until it shifts into some sort of dragon, steel and flesh meshing together into an abomination that crawls over to Nagi rapidly.
Nagi is indifferent to the sight. She just whispers, casting a spell that creates a large platform of ice so that the beast cannot reach her. She lazily draws a circle in the air with her pinkie, summoning a huge ice shard that drops onto the beast— the students cheer when she does so.
"And there's a Nagi Seishirou special!" Bachira cheers. "Dropping down a huge chunk of ice!!"
"I guess this really is easy for her…" Reo mutters to herself, watching from a distance. "I'm just pathetic…"
The dragon dissolves, and takes on another form— a huge bug, something like a centipede that skitters in a circle, boxing Nagi in with its long body. Nagi, looking bored, easily chops it up into pieces with thin blades of ice.
Unfortunately, a runaway piece she doesn't see sneaks up behind her— extended a goopy piece of murky substance to latch onto the back of Nagi's head. The crowd gasps— Nagi goes static and disarmed, dropping her weapon— eyes wide and glowing blue as Grom reads her fear. The piece of goo splattered across the area start to gather together in one center spot, like a magnet attracting— um, other magnets. Blue Lock students anticipate the form its going to take, sitting nervously at the edge of their seats. Principal Ego simply just watches, her eyes narrowed.
Nagi regains her mind in time to see Grom twist and turn, into—
An elderly woman?
She has a long skirt that's a little too long, dropping past her ankles. Her wispy white hair is long too, unkempt and tangled. Deep wrinkles tug down at her face, her eyes hollow bored and sad and lonely. She smiles, hunched into herself. Her teeth are rotten and yellow.
Nagi blinks. "What… is this…?" She blinks again— pushing her bangs off her eyes. She looks scared, her mouth parted and throat dry. Morbidly curious, but scared.
"I'm you," the woman whispers hoarsely, but loud. While Nagi is captivated by her cold eyes, the monster takes the chance to expand— the bottom half of the old woman twisting and building into a fearsome goopy monster with sharp teeth and multiple crooked legs and many dripping wet eyes. It's like the Beast from Flee the Facility, but 1000x scarier.
Nagi's legs feel numb— but she makes them move. And they move, but in the wrong direction— and she doesn't know why but she runs, runs into the hallway past Reo and the lockers and the doorways, runs into the forest outside of the school— the monster hot on her tail.
"Well— I guess we're taking this show on the road!" Bachira announces cheerfully; with that, all the students run to watch Nagi fight the monster much like how they flock towards random school fights that break out in between classes.
Meanwhile, in the night-cloaked forest, Nagi can't see where she's going— her face buried in her hands, eyes alert and startled. The purplish sky casts a hazy glow over the trees, making everything seem eerie.
"I don't want to be Grom Queen anymore!" she yells, skirt billowing as she runs, not knowing the path she's taking. "I give up. I give up the throne!"
She ends up at a cliff overlooking more forest and a river. Nagi kneels over, hands covering her ears, panting as her heart races.
"Look at me, Nagi."
No…
"I am your future."
No, that's…
"This is who you are."
No, no, no…
Nagi's hands drop from her ears to the floor, so she keels over the cliff— hair slipping from her ponytail.
The beast encroaches on Nagi while her back is turned, about to sink in an attack, when—
"STAY AWAY FROM HER!!"
Reo jumps through the trees, dashing over to Nagi and skidding between her and the beast, arms raised out protectively.
The beast growls. The old woman perched atop it raises her hand, sending an extenstion of goo towards Reo. Reo grits her teeth and holds her palms out facing down, raising her fingers up— long shards of ice appear, cutting through the attack.
Nagi turns around with a harrowing expression on her face. "Reo…?"
"Nagi, I'm sorry—" Reo shouts as she draws the shards of ice— now blades— towards her, puppetting them to slash through every glob of substance that the monster sends towards them. "I should've— fought my own— battles!"
Reo sends Nagi a meaningful look, apologetic— but the monster grabs half of her face while she's distracted. Reo yelps, her eyes going blue, when the goo falls off her face and the beast morphs into a giant man in business attire.
"Dad?!" Reo grunts and shakes her head. "Wait, no— the monster— tch!"
Reo draws a circle with her fingers, summoning a handle— she pulls out the handle, sparks of light gathering and forming a blade as she does so. She grins wickedly as she draws the blade. "As if I haven't thought about killing my dad before. You'll have to try harder than that, beast!"
Nagi blinks. "You do that?"
Reo ignores her as she leaps over floor attacks from the dad-monster: who may look slightly human, but still behaves like a beast, crawling around and snarling and attacking. Reo weaves through the whips of goo with ease, repelling and bursting through attacks and sending powerful slashes of light back to the monster. Nagi watches her in awe, wondering why Reo was ever scared of being Grom Queen in the first place.
Reo came to save her.
Reo is rescuing her.
Reo really is someone special.
"GAH—!" Reo screams as the monster manages to overwhelm her. It wraps its goo limbs around her, and her eyes go blue— as the fear is read, the monster shrinks, smaller and smaller, the goo wrapped around her torso morphing into a hand on her shoulder.
"Reo's fear…!" Nagi exclaims, gripping the grass as she lies helplessly on the floor— worried. She's stunned— finding herself paralyzed to her spot as the goo shapes itself into some humanlike shape with barely distinguishable features and glowing white eyes. The body is almost shapeless, barely defined but somehow still identifiable as human.
The monster removes its hand from Reo's shoulder, releasing her from the glowy eyes state— she gasps when she registers what she's faced with; bewildered and frozen in her spot, hands raised to her chest and curled outward. This isn't like her father, who Reo could easily find herself lashing out at— this wasn't the kind of fear that you could squash like a bug, or pierce with ice spells until it was gone.
"Who is…" Nagi trails off, as she sees the monster slowly reach for Reo's pocket, removing a folded piece of paper: it crumbles up the paper, and rips it in half.
Reo screws her eyes shut and bows her head. The monster melts into a puddle and slinks away; Reo dejectedly picks up one of the ripped halves of the paper. Nagi finds herself scrambling over to Reo, looking over at the retreating goo monster before reaching down to pick up the other crumbled piece of paper. She unfolds it to reveal the writing:
Will you go to Grom with me?
- Reo
That's it. It's nothing fancy— just, simple letters, containing a simple message.
Nagi looks up at Reo gently; the other girl looking downcast. "…You were afraid of getting rejected."
"It's— embarrassing, for me," Reo chokes out, flushing with shame. "Seriously. I'm— I'm a Mikage. People don't reject me. I reject them. Of all things that I— It's— I'm— I shouldn't—"
"It's okay," says Nagi, holding her hand out to Reo, a soft look on her face. "I'm not… that special person… but, what if I went to Grom with you instead?"
Reo looks startled— her jaw drops, before her eyes crinkle with endearment. She puts the crumpled paper into her pocket, her own hand reaching to take Nagi's. "…Really?"
Nagi nods certainly. "Mhm."
A ferocious, aching growl from the beast interrupts them instead— the monster has taken a form of pure nightmare substance, forcing Nagi and Reo to brace themselves.
Reo takes a deep breath, a smooth assured confidence washing over her now. She turns to Nagi with a confident smile, her hand extended to her. "Well then, if that's settled, may I have this dance?"
Nagi's eyes twinkle. She nods, placing her hand facedown to Reo's— then they're pulled in like the tide, Reo's left hand resting over the small of Nagi's back, while Nagi's right hand finds itself home at Reo's shoulder. Reo holds their intertwined hands outwards, her skin warm against Nagi's gloves.
"Um, I actually don't really know how to dance," says Nagi, maybe a little bit embarrassed.
"Don't worry," Reo replies with a sharp grin, determination drawing down her eyebrows. "I can lead."
With that, Reo counts them off— Nagi follows her lead, both of them turning to the boiling goo that is the monster now, moving their feet. They dance; it's a little playful, when they bound forward together. Both their hands move to clasp each other, spinning— until Reo decides to pick Nagi up and spin her around a few times, laughing.
"—Woah," Nagi exclaims, hands now on Reo's shoulders to keep herself balanced. They dance in time to their heartbeats, steadily approaching the monster. Nagi blasts ice shards at a miniglob that tries to get Reo, kicking out her foot to cast it— Reo leads Nagi into a dip so that she may do so, before pulling her back up and turning her body to dodge a glob previously flying their way. When Nagi sees a glob coming for Reo, she takes the lead so that she may kick into the air, then freezing it until it explodes into ice shards.
They dance like this, working in tandem with their magic, fighting closer and closer to the beast who gets smaller and smaller from the minis it's been sending out— when the beast roars, recalling all of its pieces one last time to form a big version of itself. Nagi and Reo, fighting back to back, nod at each other— a cue, for when Nagi looks like she's collapsing from exhaustion, but Reo catches her. It's actually a dip, again. Nagi puts her feet out like she's doing a half-split, Reo then bringing her vertical to the ground again, where she spins Nagi around to draw a magic circle with the heels of her feet. They both turn, then meet again, bringing their feet together so they meet. The spell activates, and a grand pillar of ice begans to emerge from the spell circle. They rise with the ice, holding on to each other, eyes on the prize.
It's Nagi's turn to dip Reo, who creates traces another circle of magic in the air. A handle materializes, and Nagi pulls it out as she uses her own ice magic to create the blade, a frosty chill surrounding the glinting sharpness. Reo winks as she adds another layer of magic over the chill— fire magic, some kinda alchemist's fusion of it.
The beast rams into the pillar, threatening to knock them over. Nagi brings Reo back up, and they both wrap a hand around the sword's handle. Reo taps her foot. On the third tap, they both jump, screaming as they get closer and closer to the beast, gravity yanking them downwards until the sword pierces the beast. The beast groans, Nagi and Reo are flung away as they let go of the sword. Nagi, to the ground, and Reo to the air.
Nagi's skirt flutters as she gets up and looks to the sky, her face an ":o". She scrambles up and runs to where Reo will fall; catching when she drops down, using the weight of the fall to spin her around with one hand supporting her back and the other beneath her knees; Reo's arms extended out by Nagi's shoulders as they beast gurgles with pain behind them. Rumbling, rumbling, rumbling until it explodes and bursts into frost and light and flame.
Nagi sets Reo down, the two of them ending the dance with a flourish at the perfect time. They let go of each other, panting and grinning and turning back to see the splattered monster goo crawling away from its other pieces now.
Bands of ice begin to glow around their heads, wrapping around to create an ice/light infused crown. Reo watches it happen with a sense of wonder and accomplishment. Nagi is watching Reo. She blinks at Reo with those big eyes of hers.
"So… who did you want to ask out?" Nagi asks curiously.
"O-oh, it's— it's not important," Reo replies, nonchalantly pulling out the crumpled piece of paper from her pocket and tossing it far away behind her. No one sees it unfold to reveal the 'Nagi,' written on it.
Bachira pops in from somewhere, grinning wildly and pulling Isagi along with her by the hand, while a mic is in her other hand. Isagi is holding a little speaker for it. The two of them wear matching ribbons in their hair. "And there you have it, folks!! Our happy ending! Let's give it up for our Grom Queens this year, Reo & Nagi!!"
All their classmates/battle spectators suddenly pop out from the forest. They start cheering and clapping and hooting, running towards them like they've just won some kinda crazy soccer game. The cheering continues as Reo and Nagi are hoisted into the air like MVPs, Reo laughing along with everyone and ruffling Nagi's hair. Nagi looks bewildered, but Reo meets her eyes and gives her a big ol' smile. Something in Nagi's features soften; she exhales slightly through her nose, the two of them carried off into the night by classmates celebrating their victory.
Nagi keeps her tiara on her desk, next to Choki. It glimmers, standing out against all the white and grey of her room.
Reo, meanwhile, tucks her crown away in a treasure chest underneath her bed.
Blue Lock… Additional Time!
Isagi shows up to an empty classroom on Monday and sighs, burying her forehead in her palm. "Was anyone gonna tell me we don't have school the Monday after Grom?"
"Nope!" Bachira chirps. "I mean, everyone knows that!"
"Bachira…" Isagi grits out through her teeth. "You really walked with me all this way, knowing that we don't have class?"
"Mmmm…" Bachira hums thoughtfully, before a grins breaks on her face. "I can tell you what days we do have class now! There's Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday…"
Isagi looks exasperated at Bachira's response before a puzzle piece visible clicks into place. "Keep doing that," she tells Bachira, who continues to repeat the days of a week. It's starting to sound like… like a beat…
Isagi takes out her mirror phone and starts recording, repeating the words along with Bachira— before they make contact and smile, exclaiming together at the end:
"Everyday I can flyday!!" they cheer in unison.
"That's it," Isagi declares with finality. "We're dropping a new track."
"I was just listening to the monster!" Bachira pipes up giddily. "So this is what happens when you combine the monster with friendship!"
"What should we call the track, then…?"
"…"
"…"
"…"
"…"
Isagi and Bachira lock eyes, pointing at each other and yelling at the same time.
"…FRIENdSTER!!"