I clenched Kiara tightly in one arm while holding a wind sphere in the other. So long as it's a place I was familiar with, I could use my wind orb to go there. A great gust covered me and the others, warping us over to the school.

"Eh? W-why h-here? Mrs. Akiyama said that he could be home," Camila said.

I scoffed as I used both arms to carry Ki inside the school. "If he's a serious researcher, he would be here."

"The guy has a lab at home, I'm sure," the king of Mizu no Kin said, scratching his cheek.

"Why didn't you say so? Huh? Wait, how do you know that?"

"Because Daddy's a teacher here!" Marina said, waving her arms in the air. "So he knows Onami's aunt and Mr. Suzuran."

He smiled. "Yeah. I also know Kou and her friends."

Did Koukyuu already know her teacher was the king of Mizu no Kin? She didn't appear shocked to see him.

"Eh, back so soon?" Kei said, jumping down from a tree.

"Enjoying the breeze, Prince Kei?" Marina's father asked, smiling slightly.

The light-green-haired kitsune boy smirked. "Something like that."

Hyosetsu scoffed. "You should be spending this time getting stronger."

Koukyuu's brother sighed. "I was planning to do so later. You know, Boss, you should stop to smell the roses every once in a while. It might make you less tense."

Hyosetsu scowled. "Is Mr. Suzuran here?"

"Wow, you really waste no time, do you, Cuz?" Marina said.

He glanced at Kiara. "Every second is important."

Kei rubbed his chin before walking inside. "Actually, I did see him earlier. He was on the way to his room. Said something about improving the prana restoration potion."

"Prana restoration potion?" Tetsuya asked as we followed him in.

"Yeah. It's a deep red potion that does as its name says. It's very handy, but its taste varies from person to person. Mr. Suzuran's looked into that, but at the moment, it seems there's no way to make it consistent without reducing its potency."

"Why does taste matter? As long as it does its job, it should be fine," Levech said. This was the first time he had uttered more than one word today.

"Well, for some the experience can be rather extreme," Kei said.

"Some people have sensory issues too," Amu said, sneaking a glance at me.

Hyosetsu looked down.

Kei smiled slightly. "Yeah. Shinnie is one of those people. For him, the potion has a very dry taste that makes his throat ache. He breaks out in a coughing fit."

Was the Director like Dad and me? Koukyuu said her dad was the same as me too, so chances were high. So, this condition of mine went back further in the family than just Dad and Grandpa Hideyoshi.

"Can you teleport us to Mr. Suzuran's room?" I asked. Ki was starting to shiver more than before.

"Sure. Although, I will be breaking a rule. But since it's summer, maybe it doesn't apply." Kei smirked. "Plus, it's not like I'm a student here still."

"So why didn't you do so?" Hyosetsu asked, leering at him.

Kei scoffed as he summoned a teal wand. "Simple. I didn't want to get scolded by Shinnie." His wand transformed into a green scythe. "But, since it seems the situation is getting dire, I'll take one for the team." He slashed the space in front of him, creating a tear in space.

"A spatial spell?" Eita said, eyes wide.

"Not exactly. Just like how the elemental teleportation skills, this one doesn't truly distort space directly, but indirectly," Eiichi said.

I walked up to it and felt my body being pulled in and pushed out by the wind. Was that how it worked? Was it a wind tunnel of sorts that accelerated the movement of the person going through it? If this spell were to be used in battle, the applications would be unreal.

"T-that was trippy," Eita said, blinking as he hopped out of the vortex.

Kei laughed as he exited it, closing it behind him. "Sorry. I probably should've warned you guys first."

Hyosetsu rubbed his head. "You think?"

Tetsuya sighed. "Maybe we should ask Tabiki to send you back to Zionia. You clearly need some alone time."

"Oh. I know, you can head over to the library. It's over that way!" Kei said, pointing at a door in the distance. It looked like a giant pillar with windows. Still, the natural lighting appeared to pour into it as if designed with that intention in mind. Much like a church of a palace would use lighting to highlight certain aspects of them.

I gasped as Hyosetsu basically seemed to warp over to it.

Kohri put his hands over his head and grinned. "Wished I had thought of that sooner."

"Hopefully your brother will be less grouchy later," Onami said.

"Sure hope so!"

I stared at my sister. Ki was trying hard not to show her pain, but was failing.

"Which room is it?" I asked, glancing around. The school was bigger than I had expected.

"This one," Kai said, pointing to the one we had warped closest to.

Tetsuya lurched and opened the door.

I rushed in and saw a green-haired guy putting a few drops into a potion. Flanking him was the snake-eyed woman who wanted to arrest Tetsuya and the others during the games, as well as two girls. The prana of the four felt familiar. Not too different from my natural mana. Were they related to my family?

"Save my sister!" I blurted out.

The woman's eyes widened. "Aren't you the Zionians that appeared on that female dragon during the games?"

"Some of us are," Tetsuya muttered.

The man stared at Marina's father and then looked down at Ki. He put a hand over her. Green prana flowed out of his hand. The energy wrapped around my sister from heat to toe.  As I thought, his prana was familiar.

"This energy, it's reminiscent of the Snake Pillar's," I heard Setty mumble to herself.

The Snake Pillar? According to the notes Kuroshi provided us, he was the brother of Margaret, Dad's demonic ancestor. Wait, were these people related to him?

"They get their prana from Orochi," Ryonoko whispered.

"Orochi?" Silas said.

"Isn't that the snake monster that wanted to eat your grandma?" Marina asked.

Ryonoko nodded. "He's one of the children of Leviathan."

So, that's why it felt familiar. My extended family really did have branches everywhere.

"That's odd, it doesn't exactly feel demonic," Suzuki whispered.

"Yeah," Reno mumbled.

The woman narrowed her eyes at us. "We can hear you." She glanced at Reno and Roa. "Talking in secret doesn't exactly inspire confidence when you have these two by your side."

Roa scoffed. "You're the second person to say that today."

"Well, neither she nor Yusuke are wrong. You're as shady as the dark side of the moon," Serrano mumbled.

Reno sighed.

Suzuki patted her brother on the back. "I think he's mostly talking about Roa, bro."

"Yeah," Emon said, grinning.

Reno grumbled. "The inclusion of mostly doesn't help, ya know."

Because he still wasn't to be trusted. 

"What a bunch of oddballs," the oldest girl said, pulling the younger one away.

The younger girl laughed. "Reminds me of Koi!"

Koi? The fish?

The older girl chuckled. "True. Boki's brother can be pretty weird too."

Tetsuya gasped. "Wait, aren't you that girl who tried to cheer up Eien last time I was here?"

The older girl gasped. "You saw that?"

He nodded. "Yeah. He ran off and nearly bumped into me. I had to give him a talk to cheer him up. What happened there? All I heard was him yell 'liar' to you."

She looked away. "Shiori said some things he shouldn't have. I tried to reassure him that I cared for him, but he wouldn't believe me. He thinks I only care for him because I'm his brother's friend."

My brow furrowed. Why was he invested in their relationship? A fight between kids wasn't any concern to us. Although, Eien was Koukyuu's nephew. Uh, not that I would use the kid to impress his aunt. That would be uncool.

"Hope you can make up," Tetsu said.

The girl smiled. "Thanks, Mister! You're still an oddball, but a nice one."

Tetsuya laughed awkwardly. "Uh, thanks."

Rosa giggled. "You sure are good with kids."

He blushed. "I hope so."

"Hide is too!" Nat exclaimed.

"Hide would make nice papa!" Dossie yelled.

I pouted. "Nobody asked you!" Not to mention, the chances of me ever settling down and becoming a father were slim. Making friends was one thing, finding a romantic partner was another. Plus, it was a big commitment. It terrified me to even think about it.

"Done," Mr. Suzuran said, removing his hand from Kiara. She looked the same as before.

"Nothing changed," I said, frowning.

"He only did an analysis," the woman said.

"Oh." He had scared me into thinking that was all he could do for her.

"What are the results, doc?" Kohri asked.

Mr. Suzuran stepped back. "Her energy is gradually being drained and tangled. Since she has a magicum organum, theoretically, prana restoration pills should work on her. But my knowledge of mana isn't too good. I'm unsure what effect they could have on her given both kinds of energies are present in her body."

"Think I can assist with that," Eiichi said, smirking.

"You can?" Sabine asked, blinking.

He scoffed. "Of course, I can, sweetheart. Remember, I'm a genius!"

"An insufferable one," Setsuko mumbled.

"And I thought Hideo and Tetsuya were delusional," Suzuki said, rolling her eyes.

"Hey!" me and my cousin snapped at her.

Roa snickered. "You aren't wrong about that!"

"Who asked you?!"

"Do you know how to balance the energies?" Mr. Suzuran asked.

Eiichi took a deep breath and touched Ki's forehead. "Of course. I have both kinds of energy within me too. Mana and prana are merely two manifestations of aether according to Carlos."

"Life energy," Rosa said softly.

Eiichi nodded. "Yeah. It's why you could absorb Maki's spells during your bout with him. Caelio can use aether in all its forms, even if he does prefer mana. Although, it goes beyond just life energy. Aether means divine breath. The gods are the source of all energy. Like Zionia, everything in this world is full of it, even non-living things like that table."

Right. The source of the seven manas was the Archangels, but ultimately they acted as bearers for their divine parents, the original white light and prism behind the rainbow.

Eiichi took a deep breath. "Seems this is going to be harder than I thought. The abysmals have really taken a toll on her."

"Allow me to assist. I'll handle the prana. You handle the mana," Mr. Suzuran said. "Also it might be best to set her down."

"Why not use the nurse's office, dear?" the woman asked.

"Dear?" Layla asked.

Mr. Suzuran smiled. "Oh, this is my wife, Sara. These two girls are our daughters, Mayu and Hisui." He gathered leaves around me, Ki, Eiichi, and himself. "Anyway, enough talk. We need to move on."

I nodded.

"Take care of Ki!"Layla yelled.

"I will!" I said, but I wasn't sure she heard me as we appeared in a nurse's office the next moment.

Eiichi and Mr. Suzuran quickly got to work. It was one thing being able to sense mana and prana, a different thing being able to control it the way Eiichi was. Hmm, Osamu and my uncle-in-law had mentioned that Donato allowed me to use magic. I meant to learn some during our previous visit but hadn't learned much. Funny that apart from Eiichi, the best mage among us was Hyosetsu. Strangely he seemed very attuned to it. As if he was used to using it. Maybe he was a mage in another life. 

I curled my hands into fists. Despite everything, there was still a gap in skill between me and the others. I'd managed to defeat Eiichi in battle, but he had since overtaken me again by learning how to use Second Heaven. But my use of it was still more refined. Perhaps, I needed to do what Grandpa Saffron said to me long ago, to develop what I was good at instead of nitpicking at my flaws.

'It's good to see you still want to grow,' Donato's voice echoed from out of my silver necklace. 'Even if it is driven by your ego.'

My ego? No, he was right. What pushed me was my desire to not lose! Tetsuya claimed his dream was to become the best knight, but I couldn't let him. The best knight wouldn't be him or Hyosetsu, but me!

Donato sighed. 'I'm starting to think that Takeshi picked five egoists with the intent you would push each other. But seems he failed to account for the impact on your teamwork.'

He had a point there. It certainly didn't help that neither Hyosetsu nor I were people persons. Eiichi, Tetsuya, and Setsuko were. But Eiichi's egotistical behavior damaged his relationship with those two even before he attacked Rosa and tried to frame Tetsuya. But, Eiichi, Setsuko, and I had managed to work together to some degree against Kaliq, so maybe we weren't a complete lost cause.

"Hey, mister, what are they doing?" a voice called out.

I turned and jumped. A boy with orange-red hair like Nico's stood next to me, staring curiously at my sister.

"Prince Eien?" Mr. Suzuran said. He sighed. "Can you please leave? We're a bit busy here."

"Hey, pay attention!" Eiichi snapped.

Mr. Suzuran turned his attention back to my sister.

"I'll take care of him," I said, grabbing his hand.

"Aww, but I wanted to see!" he cried as I pulled him out of the room. 

I locked the door behind me and sighed. "Sorry, but my sister isn't feeling well. Having you asking questions while they're at work will only distract them."

He pouted. "What if I stay quiet?"

Somehow, I doubted he could. He seemed like a spontaneous kid.

"How about you go and play? I have some little siblings who might want to play while they wait."

"Play? I wanna play!" he yelled, jumping up and down.

Yeah, he was as loud as I had expected.

I grabbed his hand. "Let's go find them." I didn't want to leave Ki, but I couldn't let this kid distract the ones helping her.

"Hide!" Nat yelled from afar as he ran down the hall. Alex, Dossie, Sy, Lay, and the twins accompanied him.

I let go of Eien and dashed over as Nat tripped.

"Woah!" Nat said as he prepared to hit the floor.

I sighed as I caught him. Strangely, a purple glow surrounded him. Silas stood behind him, his hand out but had stopped.

Silas narrowed his eyes at him. "Nat. We told you that would happen! You're lucky Hide caught you! Well, not that you would've fallen as I was about to catch you."

"Sorry," Nat said, frowning.

Dossie patted his shoulder. "Nat's a good boy. He just wanted to see Ki."

"Is that the girl Mr. Suzuran and that blondie were healing?"

I nodded. "Yeah, she's my sister. But she's not feeling well yet." I glanced at my siblings. "You will need to hold off from seeing her."

Nat's shoulders slumped. "Aww, man!"

"But you can go and play with Eien here." I patted the kid's head.

Nat jumped forward and beamed. "Nice to meet you, Eien! I'm Nate, but everyone calls me Nat!"

Eien smiled. "Nice to meet you, Nat!"

"I'm Layla, but you can call me Lay!" Layla said.

"C-Ca-Cami..." Camila managed to spit out.

Amun sighed. "Here I thought your shyness was reducing."

Cami lowered her head and blushed.

"It's okay. Trying is something," I said.

Silas smirked. "It's funny how you give good advice but rarely follow it yourself."

I frowned. What did he mean by that?

"Anyway, you can go back to Ki. We'll watch over the rugrats," Silas said as he motioned for the kids to follow him.

I sighed. Was Silas just being a jerk again?

'I think your brother might be on to something. You were just kicking yourself a moment ago,' Donato's voice echoed in my head.

True. I touched the necklace. Why was it easier for me to see the flaws and the ways others could improve than my own? I was either dismissive of my flaws or would beat myself over the head with them. It would be so much better if I could tell myself how to improve.

'You'll get there, eventually,' Donato said.

I smiled. "Thanks, Dan."

He sighed. "No need to thank me. It's my role as a guardian angel to help you grow."

I started walking on ahead. Then was he only doing this because it was his job? Not that it mattered much as long as I grew. I smiled. A mentor might have been better than a friend. After all, friends sometimes kept things to themselves for fear of hurting the other. I didn't need another yes man. I had plenty of those friends back in Momotaro.

**Solar Note: Hope that you enjoyed the chapter ^^. Thoughts? Theories? Predictions?**