The sound of small footsteps drew near as Marth's jaw worked his food like a cow chewing a wad of grass.

"You there! I've been looking all over for you. Where on earth have you been?!" An girl's upset voice rang in Marth's ears.

With food still in his mouth, Marth opened one eye to see Tanaka Aoi with an angry expression. Hands on her hips Tanaka was bent over, leaning towards him.

"Well, what do you have to say for yourself? Keeping a lady waiting, what gives?" Tanaka persisted.

Marth finished chewing his food and swallowed.

"I'm sorry, why are you here?" Marth was enjoying his peace and quiet up until now.

Tanaka looked surprised, and lessened her lean. "W.. w.. ww.. we..." Tanaka struggled to maintain eye contact as she spoke. She pressed her two index fingers together repeatedly.

"We... We had a date!" Tanaka blurted out as she turned red from embarrasement. "Don't tell me you forgot..." Tanaka bashfuly continued as she slowly pressed her fingers together again.

"A DATE!?" Marth tensed up in his seat, impacted by what he had just heard. His knees hit the underside of the table, knocking his plate and his chopsticks into the air.

"Wh.. Why are you acting so surprised?" Tanaka tried to hide her embarrasement as she waved her hands at her side.

"I'm not sure what's going on..." Marth was utterly confused at Tanaka's claim. "Are you messing with me? Did Tsubasa put you up to this?"

Tanaka grumbled, increasing the pitch of her voice until she seemed to burst. With her head bowed, she put on her usual angry face. "Watanabe, it's me who's being messwed with! I should have known this was a prank." Aoi threw a neatly folded piece of paper at Marth, which landed atop his empty plate. "Well joke's on you because I was just kidding. As if I would go on a date with you. Idiot!" Tanaka stormed off, hiding her face as a tear rolled down her cheek.

"What was that all about?" Marth thought to himself as he picked up the folded piece of paper. Unfolding the document revealed a hand-written note.

"Dear Tanaka Aoi,

I have been watching you for some time, and I think the ribbon you wear in your hair is super cute. I would love to have you join me for a night on the town. I hear the nearby festival has some wonderful crepes! It's this Friday evening. If you would join me, I'll be waiting in the cafeteria.

Yours Truly,

Watanabe Marth"

Marth read aloud the note in shock and disbelief.

"I didn't write this!"

Marth stood up, looking quickly from left to right for any sign of Tanaka.

"I have to apologize. She seemed really upset."

Marth grabbed his empty tray, hastily returning it to a stack above the garbage cans. With the note in hand, he took off running towards the last place he had seen Tanaka, determined to find her.

Marth's hands met the metal handle of the heavy glass door with a slap. The south exit of the commons building faced the main road to the campus. Swinging the door open, Marth saw the main campus parking lot, well lit by rows of elegant street lamps below the night sky. The dark colored asphant was painted with fresh yellow parking stall lines. Beyond it, the main road, sparingly populated by headlights of automotive traffic. The bus stop Marth had arrived at the school from was at the parking lot's outer fringes, and there was Tanaka, sitting alone at a bench at the stop.

A bus was rolling up, slowing down to a jot. Tanaka stood up, waving to the driver.

"She's boarding the bus!" Marth gasped seeing the bus come to a stop as it's brakes noisily squaled. Marth dashed forward, sprinting towards the bus.

"I'll never make it!" Marth worried as Tanaka stepped foot onto the bus from the curb. "Wait for me!" Marth called out, as Tanaka stepped up the short stair into the elevated bus cabin. Just then Marth remembered the day's training as he reached for his stack of place cards. Holding the cards in front of himself as he ran, he sifted through the pile, selecting two of the most appropriate for the situation.

"Thank you, Tsubasa!" Marth threw one card after another in front of him. The cards locked in place, vibrating. From the furthest forward, a bubble shield began forming from below, as Marth slipped past the ascending barrier into the bubble's interior. An explosion of fiery heat blasted out from the second card to the rear, jettisoning the enclosed bubble shield forward with Marth in it.

Not graceful in the least, Marth tumbled in the ball like the rattle of a pet's play toy as it was lobbed towards the bus, crashing to the ground and rebounding like a basket ball. The bus's accordion door was closing as it's air brakes were released. Tanaka took a seat, and Marth's bubble shield ball smacked against the side of the bus with the force like an angsty teenager trying to retrieve their stuck candy from a vending machine.

The bus driver hit the brakes, retarding it's launch. The driver looked to the side of the bus as Marth's Bubble Shield faded away, Marth dizzilly stumbing through the door.

"Sorry." Marth apologized to the driver as he walked up the stairs and displayed his High School ID.

The driver nodded and Marth proceeded down the aisle of the bus. Marth looked at the faces of the passengers. A few elderly in front, a business man, a mother and her child in the middle. Marth continued towards the predominantly empty rear, where Tanaka was seen looking at the floor.

"The bus is starting" The bus driver commented over the intercom as it lurched to a start. Marth grabbed the overhead railing as he approached the girl.

"Tanaka, I'm sorry!" Marth called out, lowering his head to a bow as politely as possible while still grasping the overhead railing and being jostled back and forth in the moving bus.

Tanaka looked up with big eyes, then quickly hid her face to wipe away a tear. Composing herself, Tanaka spoke again.

"Why did you follow me? I don't want to be with an idiot like you!" Tanaka made an angry face.

"Tanaka, I'm sorry!" Marth repeated himself, persisting his bow. He rose, handing the paper out with both hands. "I didn't write this. We were both played. I'm sorry."

With arms crossed, Tanaka closed her eyes, lifting her chin and facing the window. "Hmm! It's not like I would be bothered by something like this. It is you after all, a complete worthless idiot." Tanaka was beginning to sound like herself again.

"So you're not upset?" Marth questioned.

"Not at all! It's nothing but an inconvenience." Tanaka peeked at Marth with one eye, before quickly closing it again to avoid eye contact. "But it is rather inconvenient. No, it's really inconvenient! I demand compensation!" Tanaka made full eye contact with Marth, scowling as she changed her mind.

"Compensation? You mean money?" Marth wasn't expecting this.

"I demand a date!" With a frown, Tanaka held her eye contact.

"A date? But that wasn't my writing!" Marth reminded her, showing an expression of concern.

"Doesn't matter! I was promised crepes, and now I'm not going to get them. Surely you aren't going to back out now? After you have already taken responsibility?" Tanaka squinted, half disgusted at the potential folly Marth was being given the chance to make.

"Ok, ok! I'll get you some crepes!" Marth was already waist deep in this muddy situation, this was no time to turn tail and run.

"Yay!" Tanaka smiled for what seemed like the first time, giving off a rosy red aura of genuine delight.

"Whoah." Marth thought to himself as he took the seat next to Tanaka. "She's actually more cute than the ribbon." Marth eyed her blue ribbon holding her long brown hair.

Tanaka lifted her feet one after another, happily swinging them forward in the limited space behind the next row. "C-re-p-s! Crepes crepes crepes!" she softly sang with a smile.

Marth chuckled as the bus drove down the campus hill towards the city. The road curved through patches of trees before emerging to an open view of the city below the barriered road shoulder.

"Look at the lights, they're so pretty!" Tanaka's eyes lit up as she stared at the shining populous.

"I've never seen the city from this vantage point." Marth thought out loud as the bus cruised along the hillside next to a stone retaining wall.

"Really?" Tanaka wondered. "Have you only left campus during the day?"

Marth wondered for a moment before feeling a sinking feeling in his stomach. Since his arrival at the start of the semester, under the threat of death, he hadn't been allowed to leave.

"Yeah, something like that." Marth laughed uncomfortably. "Tsubasa's going to kill me!" Marth thought to himself as a cold bead of sweat formed on his forehead.

"Look! There's the festival! The whole street is lit up!" Tanaka pointed down at a street lit up brighter than the rest. The city grid shown bluish white light, but the festival seemed to glow a firey amber hue.

Marth looked at Tanaka who was already having a good time in the bus. "It'll probably be fine." Marth thought to himself. "Although I did make a deal to learn Place Cards, I suppose I should keep my end of the bargain." Marth blinked for a moment, projecting Hyper Dragon Eye at the festival below.

"Do you think there will be fireworks?" Tanaka asked Marth with a smile.

Marth tried to shove the remote image Hyper Dragon Eye was showing him into the back of his mind, continuing the projection although focusing on the girl next to him.

"Yeah, I think so." Marth answered with surety as his view through Hyper Dragon Eye conveniently came across pyrotechnicians making the final preparations of a grand spectacle.

"Ooooo, so cool! I wish I had brought yukata!" Tanaka looked back through the window at the incandescent lights.

The bus zig-zagged through the hills to the city below, where it shortly stopped at the street of the festival.

Tanaka and Marth departed the bus, thanking the driver.

The two walked side by side, wearing matching school uniforms of white, blue and yellow. Portable vendor stalls lined the street, brightly colored by amber coloured lamps.

"Would the young couple like to try a game? Land the ping pong ball in a jar and win a stuffed toy for the girl!" An boney faced attendant with large moles called out to Marth. The stall had a large table lined with small neck green glass bottles.

Marth blushed at the comment as Tanaka hid behind him.

"Just keep walking!" Tanaka whispered in Marth's ear. "He's scary!"

Marth looked at Tanaka who was hiding her face from the man, then at the attendant who was beckoning them to play.

"Come on now, you look like a strapping young man. Three tries for five dollars. Twelve tries for ten!" The attendant smiled from ear to ear.

Tanaka buried her face in Marth's back.

"No, thank you!" Marth replied to the man, then turned and grabbed Tanaka by the wrist, dragging her behind him as he quickly walked away from the booth.

Tanaka kept her gaze low to the ground but smiled as she followed Marth through the crowd.

"Are you alright?" Marth asked as he slowed his pace and looked back at Tanaka.

Tanaka pulled back her hand from Marth's grip, shaking her head and waving her freed hand in front of her face.

"No problem! It was nothing." Tanaka put on a brave face before smiling.

"Well, we're here!" Marth gestered to the stall they had arrived at.

"Crepes!" Tanaka's eyes widened at the smell wafting from the dazzling yellow colored tent. A smiling curly haired cook was pouring a ladel of batter onto a hot circlar griddle.

The inviting aroma from the cooking pan hit Marth's nostrils. In the mouthwatering moment, it took all of Marth's concentration to upkeep Hyper Dragon Eye in the back of his mind.

Captivated by the essence, Marth immediately turned to Tanaka.

"Leet's order right away!"

The two placed their orders and Marth footed the bill. Crepes in hand, the two found a place to sit and eat.

As the fireworks began to shoot into the air from the adjoined park, Marth and Tanaka bit into their flavorful morsels and smiled.

"So pretty!" Tanaka looked at the night sky, awed by the pinks, blues, and greens the mortar shells produced above the horizon.

Marth chewed a part of his crepe and smiled at the double firework scenes his own eyes in combination with Hyper Dragon Eye were affording him. With Hyper Dragon Eye, Marth had a front row seat, bare meters from the exploding mortar tubes.

Marth enjoyed the moment of peace, the first of it's kind since he had been imprisoned at St. Ezreal's. It was nice to leave the campus, but he wasn't running. He would be returning to the academy shortly of his own free will.

"I'm ready to take on the competition." Marth spoke to himself, his voice concealed under the loud crackling burst of burning magnesium as it lit up the sky. "I'm not going to lose. I can do this. I can do anything."

Marth leaned back in the park bench next to Tanaka as she happily ate her crepe.

Under the lights in the dark sky, a short figure walked between Marth and his view of the show, stopping in front.

"Hey, what's wrong with your head?" The figure asked, voice partially obscured by the booms.

Marth sat up, curious as to who would be making a conversation at this moment. The path on which she stood wasn't well lit, but Marth made out her features. It was a girl, short, with messy black hair. Marth had met this girl before.

"It's you! Oh, hey!"

Tanaka sat up as well, curious as to who Marth was talking to.

"Marth, do you know this girl?"

The girl didn't seem to be in a good mood today, and Marth wondered if it had to do with their last meeting.

"Yes, Tanaka, I borrowed her binoculars. This is... Uh well I'm not sure of her name?" Marth looked to the girl who's hair was partially covering her face. With one eye, the girl was glaring at Marth, brooding.

"I'll ask you again. What's wrong with your head?"

"Watanabe?" Tanaka turned to Marth, then back to the girl, then back to Marth.

"Um, I'm not sure I understand?" Marth was equally confused at the question. Marth's curiosity of the girl drew his own Hyper Dragon Eye to a second viewpoint of her, from the sky at her back.

The girl stepped forward into the light, revealing her dark colored, poorly fitting t-shirt and brown jeans. Her hands made fists her side.

"Quit fucking with me." The girl spoke brashly, gaze locked with Marth's. She blinked, and simultaneously a red glowing spear seemed to shoot from her hand, projecting upwards and directly into Marth's floating Hyper Dragon Eye.

The spear struck the invisible eye, sending a shock of pain into Marth's mind as if his own eye had been penetrated.

"AHHHHHGHHHHH!!!" Marth cried out, standing up and holding his hands to his face.

"What's wrong!?" Tanaka rushed over to Marth, staring back and forth between Marth and the girl.

"What is this, you bitch!" Tanaka demanded of the girl as she put on her angry face. "Who are you and what do you want?"

Marth blinked several times, realizing his real eyes were unharmed. With his Hyper Dragon Eye dispelled, he focused on the girl.

"It was you who was sneaking in my room the other day, weren't you? What's wrong with my head? What's wrong with yours! I want to know too, who the hell are you?"

The girl tensed her hands again, making a fist. She made a scowl before her reply.

"I'm Nishi Hotaru. Seems like someone closed the Back Door to your Astral Realm. I left something in there, and I'm going to need it back."