“So, what really happened? From what I’ve heard, things went out of hand very quickly back there,” Fern asked as we left the interrogation room.

I sighed. “I don’t even know. Mother wanted me to become a spy for them… I refused… Then the cult appeared and beat them up… Too much happened all at once!”

“Hmm, well let’s get home. It must have been stressful for you.” She patted my head.

“Okay…” I said, before realizing something. “Uh, wait. I wanted to visit someone before that.”

“Hmm? Visit? Oh, you mean your friend Alex? Did you promise the kids or something?”

“No… Well, I might visit them later too. But now I wanna visit… My sister.”

Fern quirked her eyebrow. “Her? I thought you hated her.”

“It’s… I mean, I did. But I also realized that was our parent’s fault in a way. She… probably suffered a lot in the time I haven’t seen her. And now she was tossed aside like a used paper cup.” I clenched my fists as I said what was on my mind. “Right now, she probably feels like I did back then.”

Fern stared at me with her mouth open. It then transformed into a grin. “Heh, and Troy says you are stupid. Who is this wise and benevolent girl Aster next to me?”

“S-shut up!” I blushed. “I’m just a little dense, not stupid.”

“Mhmm, just a little dense.” She chuckled. “Alright, let’s visit your sister then. She should be in one of the high-security cells two floors underground. Hopefully, they’ll let you through.” She nodded to me with a smile and we set off.

“Heeeey girls!” a voice called out from the side. When I turned to look, I saw the familiar grin of my ex-roommate. “I heard you were suspected of being a spy or something.” He winked at me. “How horrible! Were you only pretending to be my roommate this whole time?!” He grasped his chest as if he got shot.

“Shut up, you!” I shouted at him. “And how could I pretend to be your roommate?! We were roommates!”

“Or maybe that’s just what you wanted me to think! How can I trust an evil spy?!” His grin didn’t disappear even as he imitated being hurt.

“Well, I’ll have you know, I’m a certified triple agent now!” I proudly put a fist on my chest, despite still not exactly knowing what that role entailed. “So you better not poop your pants just by being near me!”

“Wha– Wait, a triple agent? Seriously?” He looked at Fern.

She shrugged. “Why are you surprised? It’s Aster.”

“Hmm, right. Makes sense.”

“Hey, what’s that supposed to mean?!” I mock glared at the two of them while we continued down the hero base.

“By the way, you seem oddly happy. Something good happened?” Fern asked him.

His grin only widened. “Oh-hoho! That’s a secret milady.” He put a finger on his lips in a shushing motion.

“The hell?” I took a step back from him, startled by his weird behavior.

“Heeey, there you are!” Another set of voices stole our attention. Kelly and Miranda were running our way, with Fractal following behind them in a leisurely walk. “Are you alright? I heard you had to spend the night in that room,” Kelly asked me.

“I’m fine! It was annoying but no big deal!” I gave a side glance to the girls. “What about you? I kind of… got kidnapped in the middle of that fight.”

“Don’t worry! We were completely fine!” Miranda grinned. “Well, Troy almost died, but whatever.”

“Hey!” Troy glared at his sister. “Why is my potential death a ‘whatever’?!”

“Yeah!” I stood up for him. “If Troy were to die, who’s gonna jump in front of bullets to protect us?” I shot him a grin.

He stuck out his tongue in response. What was he doing? That was only cute when girls did it.

“That aside, everything went relatively well after you were taken,” Fractal took over the conversation. “It was odd. Almost as if the main culprits never even planned on fighting back… But at the same time, they knew we would be coming.”

“You’re right, now that I think about it… It’s as if all they wanted was Aster,” Fern said and glanced at me in concern.

“But then she got rescued by a team of magical girls,” Troy said and then frowned. “Hey, wait. Didn’t I mention something like that happening?”

…

“You did,” Kelly noted.

“Probably a coincidence,” Troy suggested.

“Probably not, knowing Aster’s power,” Miranda corrected.

What the heck? Had my power gotten… inspired by Troy’s nonsense talk of all things?

“Anyways, now that this is done, I have a big announcement to make,” Fractal informed us.

“Announcement?” I quirked my eyebrow.

“Let’s go to my workshop, I don’t want the news to spread just yet.”

“Okay…?”

“Oooh! Are you finally announcing that?” Kelly beamed.

That? What the heck?

“Shockshot,” Fractal turned to her with a frown.

“Right, right. Sorry.”

“Let’s go then. It’s a pretty big topic and I want to know your opinions before I make the announcement to the rest of the heroes.”

“Oh, uh. Does it have to be right now?” I asked. “There’s something I wanted to do…”

“No, it’s fine. I’ll be in my workshop anyway. Just come over when you’re done.”

With that, Fractal waved at us and left our little group. Everyone else stayed though.

“What, you’re all coming with? You don’t even know where she’s going,” Fern asked.

“Well going with Aster to do whatever she is about to do sounds way more fun than watching that guy fix his machines while waiting,” Miranda grinned. “So where are we going?”

“I… Uh, I was going to go and speak with my sister.”

“What…? You mean your childhood bully who we didn’t even know about until just a few days ago?” Troy asked.

I sighed.

“Yeah… Her.”

“Oooh, a winner gloating over the loser eh?” He grinned.

“No!”

“Uh…”

“There’s… more than I thought at first. I feel like, in a way, she’s just like me. And as a hero, I can’t just leave her to rot like our parents did!”

Only now did I realize that the others had gone still from shock.

“Who are you and what did you do to my ex-roommate?!” Troy shouted.

I slapped him.