Nanoha, Yuuno, and I were sitting on the couch in the living room in front of the tv. Out of the three of us, I was the one that seemingly had the most energy. Many days of using mana nonstop and putting a strain on your body would spell out to bad results after all. If I weren't here, maybe the state Nanoha is in would have been much worse but she's still able to function normally at least. Scrolling through the channels, I attempted to find a show that Nanoha wouldn't mind watching since I was only a guest of the house after all. "Some of our classmates and our kouhai were talking about this new magical girl anime; Kira Kira Madoka. Wanna watch it?" I ask, turning to Nanoha who was sitting next to me while Yuuno sat on her lap.

"A magical girl anime? Aren't we a bit too old to watch that?" Nanoha asks, tilting her head. I tried not to show it, but a part of my facial muscles twitched at that reply. Illya and Miyu and I were just fine watching mahou shoujo anime! I bet it's because in this world, anime, manga, and other otaku forms of culture still have a stigma attached to it. It's not like back home where it's far more popular and acceptable. 

Placing my head on top of my hands and pursing my lips, I pause and begin to ponder what other television channels were available that Nanoha would feel like watching. "What about the (D!$n6y) Channel?" I suggest to Nanoha, mentioning a popular kid's channel that originated from the United States and has formed quite the conglomerate. It was something that existed even in my world. From Archer's memories, would this have been done by one of Zelretch's whims? Does that man even know that I've been sent to a parallel world? 

"Oh! Yeah, let's watch it, Kuro!" Nanoha replied enthusiastically. I nodded, grabbing the remote once again to change the channel. Entering the number to the television channel, I hit the enter button on the remote when a sudden vibration erupts onto the ground from a distance. Nanoha and I stand up from the couch at the same time. "Nanoha? Kuro?" Yuuno asked us with worry. "Did you feel that?" Nanoha asked instead of answering Yuuno's question. 

"Yeah, it looks like we have to get moving." I say to Nanoha. "Otou-san! I'm leaving!" Nanoha calls out loud to the only other person who was still home. "Alright! Make sure you come back before dinner!" Shiro Takamachi calls out to Nanoha in response. "If we had a Jewel Seed radar like the one they had for the Dragon Balls, this would be so much easier..." I grumble to myself as I rush out from the front door ahead of Nanoha. "Dragon Balls? What do you mean, Kuro?" Nanoha asks as she runs after me. 

"It's nothing, don't worry about it." I answer to Nanoha, shaking my head in dismissal. Seemingly, that anime series does not exist in this world. Nanoha and I eventually make it into the main district of Uminari, I lead the way onto a set of stairs attached to one of the taller buildings in order for us to get a better view of the situation. "Raising Heart, please!" Nanoha calls out, holding her stone into the air. "Stand by, ready. Set up." The Raising Heart device responds with its automated voice to Nanoha's command. Transforming into her battle form, she walks over to the railings of the rooftop. Following along with her, I also transform into my Archer form. 

After finishing our transformations, Nanoha looks out onto the scene in front of her with horror. "How terrible..." Nanoha says aloud as she bears witness. Large trees grew at a rapid rate with their roots and branches expanded all over the place, causing all sorts of destruction and ruining the buildings around them. It may not be a big deal to me who is used to seeing sights like this but for Nanoha, I imagine it would be newer for her. I grasp her hand and give it a reassuring squeeze before she ends up spacing out into the deep end out of what was probably her guilt.

"Normally, anything touched by the Jewel Seed seems to go out of control but compared to what we've faced so far, this is most definitely abnormal." I point out as I use my reinforced vision to survey the area from a distance. "You're right, it's mostly likely because the cause of this are humans. When someone with a strong will activates it by wishing hard into it, the Jewel Seed displays the strongest amount of power." Yuuno explains. If it were to grant wishes, would it be able to bring me home? Or could it tether this world along with my home world and let me travel back and forth? 

Nanoha reacted differently from me. Her eyes widened in realization. "So, it really was that boy that had it!" Nanoha exclaimed aloud. "I... I noticed it and still I- I might have been able to stop all of this before it happened." Nanoha began to tremble. The guilty expression she had before began to intensify even further. Illya would get like this sometimes too. But I can't just let her stay this way, I have to do something. It's would onii-chan would do. 

"You shouldn't blame yourself, Nanoha, it's not your fault." I say gently to her in an attempt to calm Nanoha down. Letting go of her hand, I skip over to her side and pat her on the head, causing Nanoha to give me a pout in response, glaring at me as I give smirk at her. "There's the Nanoha I know. A smile suits you better than sadness." I say giving a playful smile, Nanoha gives me a glare before turning away from me. "For the record, I also saw that boy. If you to blame anyone, we might as well both take responsibility together." I say with a wink to her. "T- t- take responsibility!? Ehhhhhhhh!?" Nanoha shouted out in embarrassment.

Giving a giggle, my face turned serious as I placed my focus back on the area in front of me. "It looks like our best course of action is to search for the Jewel Seed. With mana, I could enhance my vision to accurately cover most of the city, but it would still take too long to zero in on our target. Yuuno, do you have any search spells you could teach to Nanoha?" I ask turning towards Yuuno. "Normally you would have to get close to a Jewel Seed in order to seal it. First, you'll have to find the root area of all of this. But when it spreads out to such a large area.... how do you search for it?" Yuuno mused out loud to himself. "Well, if Raising Heart is like a search engine on the internet, maybe you could ask it to use a search spell." I suggest as I turn to Nanoha with my arms crossed. 

"Raising Heart! Please, help me!" Nanoha shouts as she lifts up her magical staff. "Area search." The magical staff begins to respond to her commands. "Lyrical, magical, search for the root of misfortune!" Nanoha aims her staff onto the ground and causes a large fluctuation of pink colored mana. A ray of magical energy shoots into the air and scatters into different directions of the city. Closing her eyes, Nanoha begins to focus herself on her spell in order to search for the location of the Jewel Seed as well as the root cause of the overgrowth of vegetation. Opening her eyes, Nanoha begins to shout to us. "I found it!" Nanoha exclaims. 

"Are you sure?" I ask, projecting the bow of EMIYA from my reality marble and pulling it into the real world. "Yeah, I'll seal it right away." Nanoha declares resolutely. "Just a second Nanoha, you've already used up most of your energy. I'll clear away the vegetation so all you'll have to do is seal it. You said you wanted to stand by my side but that doesn't mean you have to work yourself to death." I say, stopping her from using any more mana. "Trace on!" I shout in English. 

Which weapon am I going to choose for this? Of course, it's the one I've always wanted to use but I've never gotten the chance to do so. Caladbolg. I'll have to follow the seven steps in order to get a perfect result.

Step 1, judging the concept of creation. Step 2, hypothesizing the basic structure. Step 3, duplicating the composition material. Step 4, imitating the skill of its making. Step 5, sympathizing with the experience of its growth. Step 6, reproducing the accumulated years. Lastly, for the final and 7th step, excelling every manufacturing process. 

Caladbolg. The magic spiral sword of Fergus mac Roich. A powerful and destructive sword that makes even destroying the landscape a possibility. Using the weapon as it was unsuitable for one such as EMIYA or even myself. Therefore, the best and most effective way for an Archer to use this sword was to transform it into an arrow. "I am the bone of my sword..." I chant in English to myself, the large spiral sword appearing in my hand, I quickly activate alteration magic to transform it into the shape of an arrow. "CALADBOLG!" Letting loose the arrow I fired at the direction of the Jewel Seed with all my might.

This wasn't the normal full powered Caladbolg 2 used by EMIYA. It also wasn't the Caladbolg 3 that I had used formerly when I had fought against the Class Card manifestation of Saber. I used a version that was even weaker than that due to the fact that I had to control my energy in order not to kill the boy and the girl that the mana field generated by the Jewel Seed were surrounding. 

As soon as my arrow made contact with its target, an explosion ensued not long after. The force field surrounding the boy and the girl who were from today's soccer match earlier began to fall onto the ground and the trees and branches as well as the roots generated by the mana of the Jewel Seed began to subside on its own as well, leaving only the remains of destruction in its wake. "I think it's safe to say I've done my part." I smirk to Yuuno and Nanoha. 

"The rest, of course, is up to you." 

~~~

[Nanoha's POV]

Kuro was right. It doesn't change the fact that the entire incident occurred because of my negligence but that doesn't mean I should wallow in despair. Right now, I should focus on saving the people that I can. It's a good thing that Kuro is around to help me, if I were alone, I'd probably be miserable. "Alright, Raising Heart!" I shout as I point my staff towards the direction of the Jewel Seed. "Stand by, ready." Raising Heart responded to me. "Lyrical, magical. Jewel Seed serial 10. Seal!" I shout out, the staff begins to glow as I aim it towards the Jewel Seed in the distance. "Shooting mode." The staff transformed itself in order to adapt itself into using long range attacks, wings of pink mana expanded out from the sides of the staff. 

Soon, the burst of mana from my staff had managed to make contact with the Jewel Seed. "Sealing." The staff announces to me with its automated voice. The Jewel Seed floated in our direction before being fully absorbed by the staff. "Mode release." The staff announces as the wings on Raising Heart disappear entirely. "Thank you, Raising Heart, for your help." I say sincerely to it as it deactivates.

"Goodbye." Raising Heart replies before transforming back into its original form as a ruby-like gem. My barrier jacket disappears, and I grab the Raising Heart stone into my hand as I revert back to normal. "Long range magic that's difficult even for me..." Yuuno comments out loud as he watches in awe. "Well, it's as expected of Nanoha isn't it?" Kuro adds her own comment with a giggle as she also reverts back into her original form out of her combat attire and back to her casual outfit. 

"Hey, Kuro?" I begin to ask as I sit down on the rooftop and look over the scenery behind the railings. Kuro said earlier that we were both to blame for this situation. She probably wanted to make me feel better and that I wouldn't have to carry any more burdens on my shoulder. But what about her? Every time I see her, although she doesn't show it, it always seems like Kuro herself has a lot to carry and now she wants to carry my own problems along with that. How could I accept that?

"Why do you fight? What's your reasons? At first, the reason I started fighting was because I just wanted to help Yuuno. But I've inconvenienced the people around me. It's my first failure ever since I became a mage. I... I'm starting to doubt whether I'm fit for this job." I give a self-deprecating laugh as I turn to face Kuro who sat down next to me.  "You tried your best, and nobody got hurt. Isn't that enough?" Kuro asked, though the words sound rude, I'm guessing she's sincerely curious. "You're right, I did try my best, but I still failed." I answer to Kuro after letting out a sigh. 

"Hmm...." Kuro began to ponder. "There's certainly many reasons to fight. Some people have selfish reasons, some people have selfless reasons, some people have selfish reasons but convince themselves that they're being selfless. I think that as long as you have a strong conviction, you'll be motivated, and you'll have the passion and fighting spirit to move forward despite the setbacks. You said originally that you only wanted to get involved if you help Yuuno but why not take the time to think more about the consequences? You may have gotten lucky but what if we arrived at a Jewel Seed too late, or what if it's located in entirely different country from Japan? People will get hurt and maybe they might even die from the Jewel Seeds going out of control. If you want to be a hero, if you want to save people, that might be somewhere to start." Kuro said to me. 

Kuro stands up from where she sat and extended her hand towards me. As I grab it, Kuro pulls me up from where I was sitting as well, and the three of us including Yuuno make our way down the stairs from the rooftop. Arriving at the suburbs, I stumble upon the boy with the Jewel Seed as well as his crush from earlier making their way home. 

Trying my best now seemingly isn't enough. I'll have to fight with everything I have in order to protect people as much as possible. My left hand began to form into a fist as I make a resolute vow to myself. I'll collect the Jewel Seeds of my own will. My entire life, I felt as if I had another purpose. I never knew what future awaited me but what about now?

My path now has a bit more clarity.