Drab flicked the channels irritably from one station to another, finding everything humans made equally boring and stupid. Back in the etheric plane, magic was cooked in all sorts of ways, coming in a wonderful variety of tastes that made you enjoy life. Now it just funneled through a tube in a bland natural flow. It tasted like eating rocks every day. That was just the least of it though. The sports down here were barbaric, resulting in injuries and full of fouls and penalties. No one here had the decency to play by the rules and accept losses like gentlemen. He would've given anything to be back in the stands watching the Tides navigate the twelve rings with unparalleled elegance and cohesion. Sure, the Bulls won most of the games, but their style was too simple, too practical. Any true fan of Shi cheered for the Tides. The Bulls were just the Bullies, the schoolyard idiots who had nothing but size speaking for them. But he would have even cheered for the Bulls if it meant he could watch a game of Shi again.

　　It wasn't just the sports though. He had this accursedly inconvenient body. He was just a tiny bead, a sphere who could barely lift a stone and moved at a glacial pace across the sky. In his real body his dimensions were titanic, his magic power capable of enormous feats of speed and strength that made nature his plaything. But here he could actually feel hot or cold, without any good way to cure the sensation. Any child of the human world could pick him up and break him with a good swing. He felt absolutely powerless, like he was a child again, only this time without any hope of growing out of his larval state. He had left his family behind, impelled by the need to be down here where the action was, and there was no way to communicate with the plane above. Then the casualties had begun, first in trickles and then in a deluge. Almost everyone he had folded down with was masterless or dead. Practically no one had come to reinforce their steadily dwindling numbers. And their perfect plan to doom the world through secrecy had somehow been leaked to the enemy and foiled at every turn. Somehow there was a traitor in their midst, serving the real government, privy to the Wyrd Council's highest consultations. Now he couldn't even trust his comrades who had suffered through all this privation with him. He didn't like the glares of distrust fired at him either. Just because he hadn't chosen a vessel and joined the fight yet, everyone assumed he was working for the government. It's not like Amaranth had made a contract either. So why did everyone suspect him? It wasn't fair. No one had told him killing off humanity would carry with it so many inconveniences. It was supposed to be like a field trip, or a fun vacation cruise to an exotic island. It was supposed to take a year at most. They were mere humans, worthless grubs, a civilization that hadn't even expanded off its home planet, barely sentient, with only a handful of Choice Givers without any retinue of followers or emulators to speak of. The Wyrd Council, meanwhile, were wyrds, masters of multiple dimensions, inventors of everything the laws of physics allowed, scryers who could see the future. It should've been easy to snuff out this pathetic backwater, but instead they were losing. Losing!

　　"Blast that Xanadu!" Drab shouted aloud, throwing the TV controller down on a randomly selected news channel.

　　"What is it this time?" Cream asked wearily, looking up from her book.

　　"Everything! How dare he make portals to new worlds! The humans are going to get away now! We can't follow without a new folding device! Everything was going perfectly until he started interfering! Xanadu and his stupid host! That stupid folding host! That's our technology. Ours. How dare he make it his magic?" Drab fumed. Everything was going wrong. Bright lights were spreading out across the multiverse, taking root in parallel dimensions no one could reach. Even if they succeeded in destroying the world, it was too late now. Mankind would flourish all over the place, with more choices than ever, because all of the new worlds were seeded with people brimming over with infinite possibilities. Xanadu! The government dog who had prevented their mission for seventeen years running! If only I could contract with someone stronger than Xanadu! I'd like to rip him apart!

　　"I don't see that it matters." Cream yawned. "The new colonies don't have any wyrds protecting them, so we just have to send one saboteur to each of them and clean them all out. They're just rats jumping out of a sinking ship into an ocean."

　　"If that's all we have to do, why haven't we done it yet?" Drab yelled. "Why don't we have a new folding machine?"

　　"Ask the people up top." Cream blinked sardonically. Both knew that it was impossible to get any information about what had happened above. Seven years ago, suddenly, all contact with the etheric plane had ended, and no further reinforcements carrying news had arrived. They had continued the war on their own, sure that the situation would improve eventually. But it never had. And now, to take the cake, the most unimaginable event in the universe had occurred. Somehow, impossibly, wyrds were gaining their possibilities again. Their enemies down on Earth were no longer Dead Enders like they were. Nor were millions of wyrds they could dimly perceive still living in the Etheric plane. Not only had humans survived the Wyrd Council's best attempts at extermination, but now the wyrds were going to survive too, which made their entire project an exercise in futility. The whole point had been to kill the humans as a protest, a protest to God for sparing such an inferior species while condemning their own. It was an act of rebellion, a blow of righteous wrath against cosmic injustice, a balancing of the scales. But now the scales were balanced anyway, and the Wyrd Council had had nothing to do with it! If wyrds lived, what was the point in killing off mankind? What wrong were they righting? What order were they restoring to its rightful place? Wyrds would continue to dominate like they always had, and humans would continue to be ants like they always would be. What was the point in hating them now?

　　Only Drab did hate them. He hated them more than ever. He hated them for balking his will. He hated them for humiliating him, for foiling him, for being humans and daring to oppose his wishes for even a millisecond much less eight long years. He hated them for tricking him into folding down into this stupid spherical body to make a completely futile gesture he could never reverse. He hated them for killing the five volunteers he had folded down with, good friends he had always enjoyed spending time with in the days before they learned magic was depleted and they were all going to die. He hated them for everything, more than ever, and he would kill them no matter what happened in the etheric plane. It was no longer about righting a wrong or anything abstract like that. It was purely personal. Now he simply wanted to win.

　　The news channel was breathlessly showing off the Indian who had healed a child's blindness by just applying hands to his forehead. Humans never seemed to get how easy these tricks were. They always breathlessly talked about it as some sort of miracle. Miracle? If Drab were still in his old body, he would've shown them miracles. . .

　　"Will someone kill that stupid showoff?" Cream asked bitterly, blinking angrily at the Choice Giver's constant provocations by advertising himself in front of them nonstop.

　　"We already have." Drab sighed. "Twice."

　　Before Cream could give any reply, Amaranth, Eggplant, Grullo and Platinum floated into the room. Amaranth turned off the TV with a magic-at-a-distance flick and took his privileged seat at the round table.

　　"The Wyrd Council is now in session. I'd like a status report on section leader's projects to end the world." Amaranth said.

　　"As you know, I'm short on numbers. Anyone I contracted now wouldn't stand a chance in my sector. The Moral Aristocracy is patrolling throughout Asia." Grullo complained.

　　"All my underlings are dead or have gone rogue." Drab snarled. It was unbelievable that both Hank Elroy and Cho Kai, people his department had chosen for being the epitome of evil, could have betrayed the Wyrd Council in the end and gone their own way. Now he looked like a fool to the rest of them, when before they had all been singing his praise. Now everyone figured he was a traitor too. And all due to Xanadu's interference! Xanadu!

　　"I don't need to lift a hand in my region." Eggplant said. "There aren't any Choice Givers left in Africa. Any lights that seem to be growing towards infinite, the second tier if you will, my group is killing before any government wyrds even come to help them. I suggest everyone adopt our strategy. For some reason the government is restricting its recruitment to only full fledged Choice Givers, which means all we have to do is kill anyone close to becoming a Choice Giver and let the ones that are alive die of old age. Then we've got them, Amaranth. We've got them nailed for good."

　　"I ordered my wyrds to lie low and wait for a better opportunity, as you instructed. Was I supposed to be doing something?" Cream asked with a yawn.

　　"I'm training a few warriors in a remote location. I think they'll match up against any Choice Giver one for one, but there's only four of us. I don't want to waste my men." Platinum reported.

　　"Sepia reported in. His master has gone rogue and he can no longer attend our meetings. He sends his regrets. Apparently his master was scared spitless and no longer has the will to fight." Amaranth reported.

　　"He was just a lone wolf." Drab sneered. "It's not like you can expect anything from agents like that."

　　"Oh, and did you achieve something while I wasn't watching?" Eggplant blinked amusedly.

　　"There will be no infighting among the Wyrd Council." Amaranth flashed warningly, and Eggplant immediately bobbed up and down apologetically. "Drab had a good idea that we all approved of at the time. It was our best shot in years to genocide mankind. I will treat any insults directed towards Drab as insults against my leadership directly."

　　"I didn't mean anything by it." Eggplant apologized again. "I'm sorry. I wasn't thinking."

　　"Good. I'm pleased with all of you. Eggplant has a good suggestion. For any spare wyrds in each of your sections, make sure to kill off bright ones as well as Choice Givers. If we kill off the second tier we'll have fewer enemies to deal with at the top tier, and they can't do a single thing to stop us. However, the Moral Aristocracy and the Japan group won't let this happen. They've both matured bright ones into Choice Givers while entirely under their armed protection. Ultimately we can't just wait for them to die of old age, they've learned how to reproduce. We must take the Choice Givers down directly, before their poison spreads and we end up facing a thousand Choice Givers all with government supplied wyrds hunting us down.

　　"But how?" Eggplant asked. "Do you think Platinum's group can do it?"

　　"No. Platinum's right, if he doesn't think they can do it there's no point throwing his men away. That's why I've been saving this for last." Amaranth beamed a pleased reddish pink.

　　"Ladies and gentlemen. We have reestablished contact with our friends above. Meet our reinforcements: Shadow! Flame!" A gray and an orange wyrd floated into the room.

　　Platinum started beaming a happy silver, and the entire room brightened up with waves of excited color.

　　"I don't mean to complain. . .but just two new wyrds?" Cream asked. "I don't think that will make much of a difference."

　　"Shadow and Flame aren't just two new wyrds. They were scouted from the army, and their magic strength is extraordinary. If the two work together, the Japan group, no, even the Moral Aristocracy will fall." Amaranth said confidently.

　　"Kill Xanadu." Drab frothed. "No matter what else happens, kill Xanadu. It has to be Xanadu. Send them both at Xanadu and forget the rest."

　　"He has a point, Amaranth." Cream threw in her support of her somewhat close friend. "So long as he lives, more and more of these vermin are going to escape off planet."

　　Amaranth blinked, silently thinking for a moment. "Very well. I don't see any objections. You two will be tested on Xanadu. He's a legend from the army too. It should be interesting to see if your pedigree can match up against his, don't you think?"

　　Shadow and Flame blinked in concert. "We'd love to have the opportunity to prove ourselves against a warrior like him. We will deliver his head without fail."

　　"Good, good." Amaranth blinked in approval at their zeal. "My suggestion is that you find Dead Enders near his place of residence. That way they can't scry your approach from afar. Then it's just a matter of waiting, like a spider with a web, for Xanadu to approach you. Choice Givers can't ambush us, because they stand out wherever they go. But in this world, Dead Enders are everywhere. So long as you remain motionless, they'll never see you until it's too late."

　　"Amaranth, let me contract with someone too. I want to kill Xanadu with my own hands." Drab volunteered, wanting more than anything to prove his loyalty to the cause in front of all the other section leaders.

　　"Nonsense. Your strategies are necessary here. Generals do not fight in the trenches, Drab. Once we have full contact with our followers above, your section is sure to fill up again, and they will need your leadership. Put this silliness to bed. Patience is our ally. The humans can win a thousand times. But we only have to win once." Amaranth glowed with serene confidence. Suddenly, things didn't look so bad anymore. With a leader like Amaranth, the Wyrd Council couldn't fail. Indigo would be avenged. They'd all be avenged. And Drab would be vindicated once and for all.

* * *

　　"Studying for your test?" Kouno leaned forward to look at Saki's opened journal. Classes hadn't begun yet, so Saki had started scribbling away to pass the time. Kouno looked brilliant as ever, this time in a green shirt that faded to a light green and then a pure white at the bottom, still with frills, blue jeans and her bright tall red ribbon she had clearly chosen to define her through thick and thin. With her head leaning over her hair flowed dangerously close to the floor, but that also looked to be an act of intentional grace.

　　"No. This is different. Earlier this year Aiko, my older sister," Saki corrected herself to clarify things for Kouno, "gave me a really tough question. I've been trying to solve it ever since, but my thoughts are totally disorganized."

　　"What was it?" Kouno asked curiously, trying to read her writing sideways.

　　"Well, it's like this. Everyone knows what it is to be good. Everyone knows the standard virtues, what society expects and hopes from you, etc. 'What is Good?' is the easy question. The real question is 'why be good?' What could motivate someone to be good? Or if you prefer, how can someone who doesn't want to be good start wanting to be good? Because that's where everyone trips up. That's where everything goes wrong." Saki explained.

　　"But that's easy." Kouno smiled, settling down into her desk and getting out her mechanical pencil and paper. "The answer is 'fear,' of course."

　　"Fear?" Saki blinked.

　　"Children obey their parents because they're afraid of being punished. Or they're afraid their parents will stop liking them. Or they're afraid of how helpless they'd be without their parents' financial assistance. Adults obey the law because they're afraid of getting caught by the police. Nations avoid offending their neighbors because they're afraid of losing a war. It's easy to make someone who doesn't want to be good want to be good. You just threaten them with a fate even more dire than the pain and hassle of being good if they aren't good, and poof, they're angels." Kouno said, spreading her fingers out wide and waving them to represent her poof transformation.

　　"But in the case of the children, that doesn't explain why parents would be good. And in the case of the law abiding citizens, that doesn't explain why the cops would be good." Saki pointed out.

　　"The parents are afraid too. There are laws against child neglect after all. And there's always the threat of ostracism. They're afraid of losing their good reputation. The cops are afraid of other cops, there's even an internal police force that does nothing but investigate and arrest other cops who go bad. So you see, everyone's thought of these problems in advance and they've already been solved." Kouno lectured.

　　"But what about an all powerful dictator who didn't have to fear anyone?" Saki asked. "Why should he be good?"

　　"Well, if you look at the historical record, not many all powerful dictators have been good, which proves my point." Kouno smiled. "But I guess if I had to explain how fear could even motivate an all powerful dictator, I'd say fear of being hated. Or even fear of being forgotten. Everyone still remembers Augustus Ceasar, because he was good for his country. But how many people still remember Heliogabalus? Even dictators fear the judgment of history, I think, and that might keep some of them on the right path."

　　"But what if you were God? Surely God wants to be good, and he could even brainwash people into loving him no matter what he did." Saki protested.

　　"God, hmm? I think God would be the most afraid of all." Kouno pursed her lips, her brow knitting.

　　"Of what? What's left to fear?" Saki asked.

　　"Falling short of your own ideal." Kouno whispered, her eyes ceasing to see what was in front of her and looking at something far away.

　　Saki felt a pang of concern run through her as she looked at the usually bright and cheerful girl across from her, but the teacher's entrance stopped her from saying anything more.

　　"Rise! Bow! Take your seats!" The class representative ordered the class, who all dutifully and respectfully obeyed. With the ritual done, everyone could forget what they had been doing before class began and focus on the teacher in front of them. Saki didn't get a chance to talk with Kouno again until lunch.

　　"I know this is sudden," Saki said as she dipped into her school provided meal. Elementary schoolers didn't get to bring bentos from home, their meals were all provided by the administration. It was probably a great relief for mothers across Japan, but it was just one more penalty for being young to Saki. Aiko got wonderful home-cooked food for lunch every day. Meanwhile, she got green beans. "But my birthday is this Friday."

　　"Oh really? Congratulations. I turned eleven in June, though, so I win." Kouno replied cheerfully, waving her spoon.

　　"That's not it. You see, Chiharu, that's my oldest sister." Saki corrected herself to help Kouno again.

　　"Chiharu, Aiko, and Saki. Big, just right, and too small. Like the three bears." Kouno smiled.

　　"Wait, why am I too small?" Saki pouted. "You haven't even met Aiko and yet she gets to be 'just right'?"

　　"I can't help it, the fairy tale tied my hands." Kouno stuck her tongue out at Saki.

　　"Oh fine. The point is Chiharu suggested we all go to an amusement park together to celebrate. Right now it's just my family, but I wondered if you'd like to come too. I mean, it's not often you get to visit an amusement park, right?" Saki asked hopefully.

　　"I'd love to come, but I couldn't go without my parents. I don't think they could trust complete strangers like your parents to look after me just because I said I liked you. I'll ask if they'll take me when I get home, okay?" Kouno asked.

　　"Do you?" Saki asked nervously.

　　"Do I what?" Kouno asked, her spoon paused near her mouth like she'd been caught doing something wrong.

　　"Do you really like me?" Saki asked.

　　"Well, what about you?" Kouno looked sideways, blushing. "Do you like me?"

　　"Let's write down what we think of each other on paper, turn the sheets face down, trade sheets, and then both turn them back over on three." Saki suggested excitedly.

　　"That's fair." Kouno nodded, getting out her backpack and searching for her notebook. Saki did likewise and they were soon shielding their paper from each other and writing their answers down in secret. The two exchanged their slips of paper by sliding them across their joined together desks. Saki was blushing already from what she'd written, wondering if she'd gone too far. Her fingertips burned against the sheet of paper that was holding her fate.

　　"On three." Kouno announced with a courageous deep breath. "One, two, three!" Saki turned over her sheet of paper and looked at the single kanji awaiting her. Well. Who would've believed it? It was the exact same kanji she'd written for Kouno. Saki's face went from amazed to overjoyed. She had made her first true friend. When she looked up, Kouno was looking back at her with misted eyes.

　　The character they had both written was 'love.'

　　"Does this mean I can call you Eri?" Saki asked hopefully.

　　"Only if I can call you Saki." Eri replied, wiping at her treacherous eyes. Then the two started laughing. The order of their bonding was completely messed up. But that was okay. Everything was perfect, now.

* * *

　　"We're taking a detour, Isao." Shiori Rin announced. They had been wandering through the town looking at cakes, flowers, and even churches for their coming wedding. Shiori wasn't a Christian in the least, but in the end a wedding just had to be in a church, or it wouldn't feel right. Isao didn't like any of the plans equally, so it was all one to him where they married. Shiori didn't want to waste too much time preparing her wedding, she only had one year with Isao before he was gone and she wanted as much of that year as possible sharing a marriage bed. Every day they wasted was a day she could never get back. What if Isao died abroad next year? Then every day she spent decorating her dream ceremony was another day gone forever from their true bliss. She would regret those lost days for the rest of her life. She was in a rush, but these things took time to arrange even when in a rush. The only good part about it all is she never had to worry about the price.

　　"Where to next?" Isao asked patiently, aware that grumbling wouldn't change anything.

　　"Your sister-in-law." Shiori smiled.

　　"Rei? Do you want her to be the maid of honor?" Isao guessed.

　　"Well of course. I was hers you know." Shiori said happily, her pace pushing faster without her even realizing. "But that's not all. Rei moved out to live with Onyx in this tiny little apartment. She says she's happy, but I don't believe it. Besides, I'm lonely now. I'm getting Rei back."

　　"You want Rei and Onyx to squeeze back into your parent's house?" Isao asked, nonplussed.

　　"No, silly. I want all of us to move into Kotone's house. Then it's not a matter of squeezing in. You've seen it, right?" Shiori held her arms out as wide as she could and then turned around to display the image while they walked. "It's thisssss big! And it has a giant hot spring! Plus the ceilings are thisssss high. And the carpets are so thick you can fall asleep on them!"

　　Isao laughed. "Does Kotone know you're going to move in?"

　　"Not yet. Not until I get Rei to come too, but she invited all of us already, so that's unimportant. Besides, I think you're misunderstanding something. We aren't moving in for our sake, we're moving in for theirs. Think about it, Kotone and Masanori must be having a really hard time right now. Masanori is trying to work off a one-hundred trillion won debt, while Kotone is eight months' pregnant and can barely move about the house. Meanwhile they've got a not particularly safe or courteous house guest, who's more like a prisoner under house arrest, Cho Kai. Kotone can't possibly defend herself as she is now, or after she's had the baby either, so Masanori is practically locked inside the mansion with her at all times. On top of all that they have to take care of Capri, who is full of mischief and doesn't go to school so she's in their hair at all hours. If we all joined them, we could give everyone some more liberty. We can help Kotone take care of Capri and Kotori when the baby arrives, protect them all when Masanori's away, and make sure Cho doesn't get any ideas." Shiori summed up.

　　"Shiori Rin, are you actually a nice, caring, thoughtful girl?" Isao smiled.

　　"I can punch real hard you know." Shiori warned.

　　"I don't mind." Isao said. "That is, moving in with Masanori. I'd mind getting punched." Isao corrected quickly. "He's my best friend, and I would feel safer with him around when I'm gone. I don't want to come back to a murder scene ever again."

　　"Isao Oono, are you actually worried about me?" Shiori batted her eyelashes.

　　"You have no idea." Isao trailed off, not wanting to delve into it.

　　Shiori gave Isao a compassionate look, then grabbed his arm and glomped herself against it, leaning her head into his shoulder.

　　"Don't worry, Isao. I have a plan for that too. When we marry, I'm dropping out of college. There's no point now that I have an endless fortune and a loving husband. I'm going to start up a dojo instead. Whenever I'm not taking care of our little ones, I'm going to be teaching Taekwondo. And when I'm not teaching, I'm just going to be training on my own. Last time I wasn't strong enough. I wasn't any use to anyone. Even though I made a promise with Kotone to never lose another fight, I was totally useless when it mattered. The next time Dead Enders try their luck against us, though, I'll be on a completely different level. I'll tear them all apart." Shiori promised.

　　"That would be relieving." Isao laughed, and when he looked down at the girl on his arm with her breasts pressed firmly against his side, his smile was completely genuine.

　　"I'm going to train, and train, and train. I was a black belt by age ten, but there's levels and levels of black belts. When you get back from your year abroad, I'll be a super duper black belt. I'll be able to break boards just by glaring at them." Shiori smiled up at her fiance.

　　"Oh? That'll be a sight." Isao smiled down at his fiancee.

　　"Plus I'm thinking of two more people." Shiori announced proudly. "If we don't live together with Kotone and Masanori, it will be hard on Awesome and Magnolia. They're married too you know, but wyrds are bound to their mistresses for life. It would be too sad if they had to live apart. So Kotone and I just have to live together. We have to. And Rei has to live with me too. Because I'm bound to her for life. Just like the wyrds. Just as much."

　　Isao didn't know what to say, so he just reached down to her hand and squeezed it. The two held hands the rest of the way to their destination.