This chapter will contain spoilers from the game Magia Record if anyone hasn't played it yet if you don't want any spoilers, skip ahead.

Iroha built her new deck and a friend has come by to visit! Who is it? Next, a rumor appeared about a romantic garden spreads but Astral, Yuma, Iroha, and Shark were caught in a Uwasa barrier and Iroha learned something dark.

I'm so sorry if I hadn't uploaded new chapters, I've been occupied with school.

~~~~~~~~...Onii-chan...it's so cold...~~~~~~~~

Iroha finished up building her deck as she began walking home on her own since the others were busy with other things, she sighed sadly to herself, she missed her friends dearly as much as she wanted to find her little sister.

The moment she stepped into the house, she greeted out loud but no one responded to her as she received a text from her mother and father,

{Iroha, sorry we couldn't see you back from school. Our boss wanted us to come to the next city over, don't worry, we can call and text each other. With love, Mom and Dad.}

Iroha sighed as she responded to her parents before hearing some knocks on the door, she walked over to see who it was before being pounced upon by a familiar person with the same energy.

"TAMAKI-SAN~! I MISSED YOU~!" Tsuruno Yui, Iroha's friend hugged, more likely squeezed, Iroha hard before hearing some bones pop. "O..ow...Tsuruno-Chan...air..." Iroha managed to say from being squeezed to death by her friend. "Oh! Gomen Nasai! So, how are things!? Tell me!!" The brunette shook Iroha like she was a snowglobe or a soda can.

"I can't talk!! Stop shaking me!!" Iroha said as they both sat down and showed Tsuruno her deck. "A wind attribute deck? Cool! I got my fire attribute deck!" The brunette said with a smile before they both heard a meow from Cloud Kitten as they saw the kitten licking its paws.

"Are you seeing what I'm seeing Tsuruno?" Iroha asked as she saw the kitten come up to them and purr at Iroha's hand. "AWWW~! IT'S SOOOOOO CUTE~!" Tsuruno shouted as the kitten meowed.

Then Tsuruno's phone rang with Yachio's number as the brunette answered "Helloooooo~! Yachiyo-san!" She chirped before Tsuruno went to a shocked face. "Okay, I'll put you on speaker." She said pressing the speaker button.

"Tamaki-san, are you with Tsuruno-san?" Yachio asked from the other side of the phone, Iroha gulped and answered. "Y-Yeah, what's up?" Iroha regrets asking the moment Yachio answered.

"A rumor was heard of a romantic black rose garden about 5 blocks from where you are. Rumor has it that a couple would go to confess their feeling but they never come out, same with the police, they enter, never come out." Yachio said as the two girls paled at the thought of entering and never coming back out of a certain place.

"Yikes, that reminds me of R.L. Stine's book, One Day at HorrorLand." Tsuruno said with a shiver, "A family comes across a gate to a horror theme park only to realize they can't leave." She explained before shivering once more.

"This is somewhat like that, but drone footage showed no bodies like they never were there." Yachio explains as she sent some pictures to Tsuruno as they gasped.

No bodies.

"We'll have to investigate this as possible!!" Tsuruno shouted as she dashed out the door before walking back inside.

"By any chance, could I stay the night?" Iroha nodded before they both got ready for bed before they watch some episodes of The Sparrow, one of the episodes was a romantic episode, Sparrow meets a masked girl called Dove, they don't know each other's identities but without the masks Dove has a crush on him only to meet another love rival called Crow.

Then Iroha went to the bathroom to wash up before she saw Astral before holding a scream as she covered her bra covered chest.

"What are you doing here?!" SHe whispered to him still blushing. "I just wanted to check up on you and your friend there." He referred to Tsuruno who was crying at the mushy romance between the two actors on the show.

"It's so beautiful yet so mushy~! I hate it yet I love it~! Waaaaaaaaaah~!!" She cried before blowing her nose into a tissue and crying tears.

"Iroha-chan~! You taking a bath~?! I'll just get us some popcorn in case of more episodes come on~!" She chirped as she headed down to the kitchen.

"You can watch the show with us just sit by me in case she sees you, hide," Iroha said realizing that her arms were down the whole time from her chest.

"Please exit!" She asked as she pushed him out. "I can't see why I can't take a bath with you Tamaki Iroha." He said outside the bathroom.

Iroha sat down in the warm water with the bubbles around her and her hair up in a bun as she drifted to her thoughts about Astral, sure he could take a bath but not to stare at her.

'I wonder why Astral appeared when he and Yuma told me that he could only come out if they were wearing the key, I don't have the key so how is it possible?' She thought to herself.

Then she stepped out of the hot bath to dry off and emptied the tub before searching for a towel as she took one from someone as she looked up to see Astral looking at her.

Iroha screamed.

Tsuruno opened the door with a towel around her body, "Iroha! What's wrong?!" Iroha was blushing mad before Tsuruno saw what she was staring at, nothing but an open window.

The brunette walked over and shouted out the window, "HEY YOU PERVERTS!! STAY OUT OF THIS WINDOW OR TSURUNO YUI WILL HUNT YOU DOWN!!!" She shouted before slamming the window down and Iroha rushed to her closet with her nightgown in hand and dress for the night as she turned out the light before drifting off to a dream...more likely...a nightmare.

~~(Begin Nightmare)~~

Iroha walked down the dark hallway of a place but everything felt dead and cold, the air felt like it wasn't there for her to breathe, she had her wrist crossbow out and ready to shoot at an unexpecting enemy before she saw light up ahead and walked to see what it was.

She carefully walked down a path of stairs where something caught her eye, what was Astral doing in her dream? She followed Astral carefully to the point where she tripped over her own feet and down the stairs to a red door, she reached out carefully to turn the knob and opening the door as it gave an eerie creak before walking in carefully.

Then, Iroha felt like she was pulled inside the room by a hand as she struggled to pull her wrist back before falling to her side and cradling her wrist before hearing a chill threatening voice.

"Hello, Iroha~. Welcome to my domain~." The voice purred out as a black inky hand reached out and caressed her side hairs as she backed up to the wall and tried to get away from him but she felt herself being in a tight space but she wanted to wake up.

"Don't even think of waking up, my Peony~." The Astral lookalike purred as he stroked her cheeks tenderly before she closed her eyes shut tightly but she felt his hand around her waist and one under her chin as she stared into his miscolored eyes.

One was completely black and the other was like Astral's. She didn't like this guy one bit. "L-Let go please." She begged as she hid her face in her hands, he looked at her with a frown before the lights came on revealing a dark ballroom usually fit for demons in some games she had seen.

Her magical attire was replaced with a black lolita dress with red ribbons adorned onto her and her hair into a simple braid. "Much better little Peony~! Now we shall dance to our heart's content~!" He grabbed her wrist again as she pulled away with as much force before running away from him. "Little Peony, why must you hurt me~?"

"Because you're crazy and I don't know you!" She shouted before running away, the girl had a point, she didn't know his name nor did she love him as he did.

"You may call me Dark Mist or 96, little Peony~." He purred out before Iroha was found by Dark Mist as she cowered back into a wall before she heard a voice she never thought to hear. "Get away from her!" It was Astral!

"Astral!" She cried out in joy as she embraced Astral who hugged her back, then his gaze turned to Dark Mist. "Leave at once or I won't hesitate to bring harm to you." Astral threatened at his dark counterpart who vanished at the blink of an eye before Astral whispered in her ear. "Wake up."

~~(End Nightmare)~~

Iroha woke up with a gasp to see that she was still in her room and Tsuruno sleeping as she stared out to see a sunrise coming in as she smiled at the sight of the bright sun as she turned to see Astral sitting at the foot of her bed while looking outside the window with her before looking at Iroha.

"It's really beautiful isn't it?" He asked her as she nodded before looking at him straight in the eye.

Both wouldn't look away as Astral got closer to Iroha as they both blushed and their lips nearly touched before the alarm sounded and she got up and ready before Astral placed his hand over his chest, he could feel the warmth from almost kissing Iroha and something like a heartbeat.

'Could this be the human emotion "love"?' He questioned himself before he brought Iroha her clothes by phasing through the closet and brought out her old uniform which was a gray vest, a button-up white shirt, and a pink skirt.

He brought her clothing to the bathroom and placed it on the sink before he heard the shower shuts off and quickly left the bathroom as soon as possible before he saw Tsuruno awake and munching on toast and fried eggs she made before waving at Astral. "Yo." She said calmly which startled Astral.

"You can see me as well as Tamaki Iroha?" He asked as she nodded. "Yep, I knew I could see you because how else did Iroha scream last night? Peeping Toms?" She asked. "Besides, you and Iroha-chan are cute together~!" She chirped which brought a blush to his face.

"So I heard from you that there is a rumor of a black rose garden, is it true?" He asked as Tsuruno nodded which brought him back to the black rose vine on Iroha's window. "I saw a black rose vine on Iroha's window, did you happen to see it as well?" Astral as the brunette as she had the look of shock.

"I DID see a black rose vine on her window! It's so weird! I know a girl who knows about flowers~!" Tsuruno said as she dialed a number as the ringing began and they heard someone pick it up.

<"Hello~! Haruna speaking~!"> A chipper voice was on the line as Tsuruno put it on speaker, "Hey Konomi, you know a lot about flowers right?" She asked as Astral waited for an answer.

<"Yeah, I do. What's up?"> Konomi asked from the other line as Tsuruno looked at Astral as he nodded. "Well, I saw a black rose vine going up to Iroha's window. What does the black rose mean to you?" Tsuruno asked as Konomi went silent for about five minutes before answering.

<"Black roses would have to do with death or grieving, but mostly death."> Konomi answered before hanging up which left Astral and Tsuruno with shocked faces as Tsuruno placed her phone away and ran out to the door to see the window which had more black roses.

"Ack! We should get rid of these before Iroha sees them!" Tsuruno shouted before transforming and slicing the roses off with her bladed fans and burning them in a trash can.

"Phew! That's the last of them!" She said transforming back as Astral had the look of shock as he continued staring at the window. "WHAT!?" Tsuruno shouted when she saw the roses untouched and where they were as she walked back inside and saw Iroha eating breakfast that Tsuruno made before working on the dishes.

"Are you guys ready to find the black rose garden~?!" Tsuruno shouted with glee as Iroha nodded as did Astral as they walked out the door before bumping into Shark again who had a flirtatious smile when he saw Iroha. "Well, morning Iroha. Who is this girl next to you?" He asked.

"I'm Tsuruno Yui! The mightiest one of her friends!" She introduced herself to the boy as he cleaned his ear out because of her shouting. "Tsuruno Yui? Like the Yui family restaurant?" He asked as she had the look of shock.

"Eh!? You know my name, is it because I'm the mightiest friend?!" She asked with a gleam in her orangish-brown as he sweatdropped. "You just introduced yourself like 5 seconds ago. Anyway, you heard about the black rose garden as well?" He asked as they both nodded.

"I'm investigating it as well, some students at our school go missing there as well but get this, their parents somehow aren't phased with it, it's like they don't exist," Shark said which brought more interest to the rumor. "Odd, I thought the parents would try to burn it down," Tsuruno said as Shark looked at her.

"Believe me, I saw someone try to burn it down but the next morning, it was fine." He said as Astral thought back to the black roses Tsuruno tried to burn.

"Why don't we investigate it together?" Iroha suggested as Shark joined up with them to find clues of where the roses came from, Astral stayed close to Iroha before Yuma fell down from the stairs and onto his tailbone which earned some winces from Tsuruno, Shark, Iroha, and Astral.

"Are you alright Yuma?" Iroha asked as he gave a weak thumbs-up to them before Tsuruno helped him up and told him of the black roses and the disappearances as they walked over and found the black rose garden. "It's here." Tsuruno said as they walked (Astral floating) into the garden before Astral could've swore he saw a vine move as did Shark.

"Hey guys-." Shark was cut off by a scream from Iroha when she saw a body falls from a vine, Shark and Yuma saw the female uniform to their school and finally knew what happened.

"Guys! Let's get out of here!" Tsuruno shouted as they nodded and tried to get the exit but it was blocked off by more vines and black roses before some odd flies were buzzing around them until flames licked the entire garden.

Yuma and Shark turned to see Tsuruno with two bladed fans in her hands and blowing the fire around, Iroha fired some arrows at the flies before one charged at her and knocked her down. "Ack!"

"Iroha!" Yuma shouted her name before Shark brought out a monster and started attacking to help the two magical girls as Yuma brought out Gagaga Magician and attacked the flies as well as Iroha groaned out in pain as Astral saw her soul gem.

It was completely black as she writhed in pain. "A-Astral, it hurts." She cried as he held her close and ushering with comforting words into her ear as she slipped from consciousness.

'It's so dark...Everything is empty and cold...I wanna fall into the darkness and give up...No... I'm not falling down...Something is... rising...' Then Iroha felt whatever it was emerged and transformed along with it.

https://youtu.be/02Chytu5pWM

"I-Iroha!?" Astral, Shark and Yuma were both shocked when they saw Iroha transform into something else.

The monster attached to Iroha was that of a cuckoo. Cloth was wrapped around the mouth as a whole bunch attacked the rest of the flies and destroyed the garden as the black roses withered away and Iroha fell to her knees as Tsuruno saw Iroha's soul gem.

"Her soul gem is cleaned?!" She said as Astral noticed it as well, "We should leave before the police come by and ask what happened here." Yuma suggested as they left the burnt down garden and Astral took Iroha home as he laid her down in bed and took one last look at the soul gem.

"Observation #26: There are more to Iroha than meets the eye."