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Ako was having lunch with her friends. She got along well with the other little nerds in the class, and she was slightly popular for being in a band. Maybe also for being so small and cute. Whatever the case, several of her classmates had been to see at least one of Roselia's concerts."Ako-chan."Someone called her name, so Ako looked over. It was Tsugumi, one of her big sister's best friends."Could I talk to you for a minute?" Tsugumi asked."Huh? Sure!" Ako got up. "I'll be right back," she said to her friends, and went into the hallway."Sorry to pull you away like that," Tsugumi said, and smiled apologetically."No worries! What's up, Tsugu-chin? Where's number one?" Ako asked.Tsugumi looked a little surprised. "Uh... I... we... having lunch with Ran-chan, Moca-chan, Tomoe-chan, and Himari-chan," she said.Tsugumi had a secret that Ako knew about. She actually had the power to become more than one Tsugumi. Ako was a little envious. If she had a bunch of Akos, she could do roleplay sessions all on her own. But even though she accepted Tsugumi's explanation of how they weren't really separate people, but still all one Tsugumi, she could always tell whether it was the main Tsugumi, or one of the others. If Tsugumi had sent an other to talk to her, Ako assumed it was important."Listen... um..." Tsugumi led Ako off to the side, and lowered her voice. "I'm thinking of starting a support group for us with special abilities.""Really? That's cool!" Ako burst out. Just the very thought excited her. Several people with powers getting together. Like in one of them movies."Ako-chan, ssshhh," Tsugumi said, looking a little nervous."Oh... sorry, Tsugu-chin." Ako felt a little sheepish. Of course it had to be kept a secret."A-anyway, you know someone, right?" Tsugumi asked, and Ako nodded.While she had never revealed her identity, Ako had ended up letting her sister and the others in Afterglow know that she knew someone else with a power. Not on purpose, she just... had a habit of getting excited about things, and wanting to talk about them. So certain things accidentally slipped out sometimes."I was hoping you could ask them if they wanted to take part, and come along with you," Tsugumi said."With me?" Ako was a little confused. She didn't have any cool power. Okay, maybe she wasn't entirely normal, but nothing worth talking about compared to the others she knew."Oh, sorry. I just assumed you would want to come either way," Tsugumi said awkwardly."Huh... yeah, of course!" Ako wouldn't miss it for the world if Tsugumi wanted her there.Tsugumi breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank you.""So who else is going, Tsugu-chin?" Ako asked. She assumed Moca would probably show up, but she was curious who else Tsugumi might know."You'll have to wait and see until we get there," Tsugumi said with a clever smile.Ako felt like she couldn't wait, but accepted that she had to. It was going to be hard to focus on band practice that day, though.* * *"So that's the plan," Tsugumi finished explaining."Ooohhh, that's very Tsugurific of you~," Moca said.Tsugumi still wasn't entirely sure what 'Tsugurific' meant, but she was pretty sure it was a compliment. Probably. It was one of those Moca things."Will you come along, Moca-chan?" Tsugumi asked."Hm~... if Ra~n is okay with it~," Moca said, and put her hand over Ran's."You can do what you want," Ran said as she continued eating."Oh, so cold~," Moca said.Ran sighed. "I mean that I trust you, doofus.""Ooohhh~, so dreamy~." Moca put her arms around Ran, and nuzzled her nose against Ran's cheek."H-hey, cut it out!" Ran's face was rapidly flushing with colour."Okay, I'll go~," Moca said. She sounded quite happy."Can I go too?" Himari asked.Tsugumi had sort of expected that. "Sorry, Himari-chan. I had to promise that only people with abilities would show up," she said."Aw... I wanted to meet everyone too..." Himari looked disappointed, but she didn't argue further.Sayo had not been thrilled about the idea at the start, but Tsugumi had managed to win her over as she explained. Even if her girlfriend hadn't openly said so, Tsugumi was certain that she had felt lonely not knowing anyone else with superhuman abilities. Maybe especially since Sayo was more 'super' than anyone else Tsugumi knew. Flight and super-strength were classic comic book things. So even if she didn't know anyone else on that level, she thought maybe it would be nice to get everyone together. Maybe it would help them all feel more normal, and less alone.Not that there were a lot of them. Tsugumi, Sayo, Moca, Ako, and whomever Ako knew. Tsugumi wasn't entirely certain if it was just one person, or more, that Ako knew outside of Afterglow. However many there were, Tsugumi hoped they would feel welcome. And that none of them ended up regretting saying yes to this. Maybe she worried about Sayo more than anyone else. If this backfired, she would feel awful."But you'll introduce us to your girlfriend soon, right?" Himari had perked up again."Uh... y-yeah... sure..." Tsugumi had somehow forgotten about that part.She had kept who she was dating a secret considering the circumstances. They didn't even know she was dating someone with abilities. But they had picked up on the signs, and managed to get her to admit that she had found someone. Mostly Himari. When it came to other people, Himari could be remarkably observant. You couldn't always say the same about how she saw herself, unfortunately.Now Moca would meet Sayo before anyone else. So at least Moca would know she was dating someone with abilities. Tsugumi was not about to deny their relationship when they were both present. Technically they had already met, as Afterglow and Roselia knew each other, and had even performed together. But she hadn't really thought that far ahead when thinking up this plan, so she hadn't asked what Sayo thought about letting the others know they were together. Hopefully she was okay with it.* * *"What do you think, Rin-Rin?""I don't know, Ako-chan..."Ako had visited Rinko on a special errand that day: To tell her about the support group.Rinko did not like going out much, or spending time with people she didn't know well. Social anxiety could have a very negative effect on her. Crowds were the worst, but even just spending time with someone she wasn't close to could be hard. Even though she had really wanted to be part of Roselia, it had been tough at the start. Ako's support, and their shared admiration of Yukina had been what helped her along. That, and Lisa's caring ways. There was something about Lisa that made you feel comfortable really quickly. Now she cared for everyone in the band.Yet if things got too bad, and Rinko's anxiety started escalating, her special power would go out of control. She'd go invisible. It was something she could activate on her own when she was calm, but when she started feeling bad it just happened on its own. It was rather humiliating. So the idea of spending time with people she didn't know wasn't thrilling.Ako's hand gently embraced Rinko's. "I'll be there with you," Ako said. Her tone was hopeful. It was clear she wanted Rinko to go.Rinko had come a long way since joining Roselia. Since meeting Ako. Certain things were still beyond her, and some might always be, but she could handle more than she used to.Looking positively at it, there were going to be close friends of Ako's there. Rinko had briefly met them before, but not really spoken to them. There was no way they could be that bad though, when they were Ako's friends. Ako had also been honest, and mentioned that Tsugumi had said it was a secret who everyone attending was. So there might be someone Ako didn't know about. That was probably what made Rinko the most anxious, but she could also understand it. If she said no to going, she didn't want the ones who went to still know who she was. She assumed that whomever the mystery guest (or guests) was, they probably didn't want their secret known to anyone who wouldn't actually be there. That made sense.The best incentive was that Ako would be there. Little, lovely Ako, who somehow managed to be such a strong support pillar for Rinko. So maybe it was a good test to see how far she had come. And she had to admit she was curious. Who were they, and what powers did they have? She had been alone for so long until she met Ako. Meeting others who were in the same boat, and had also struggled with loneliness... maybe there was something to that."Okay... I'll try going..." Rinko said, and smiled softly at Ako.Ako lit up. "Thank you, Rin-Rin!" She hugged Rinko close. "I promise I'll protect you should anything happen.""I know you will," Rinko said, and leaned her head on Ako's.* * *And so the big day arrived. Tsugumi had gotten word that Ako would be bringing one person, though she was keeping it a surprise who it was. So there would be a total of five attendees for this first meeting. Finding a space to hold the meeting had probably been the biggest worry. They were only five so far, but it was possible that they'd find more people in the future. Somehow.For now they had gotten a large room above the cafe. Maybe they could find something bigger or different later, should it be needed.Tsugumi had told her parents she'd be having some friends over for a bit. They of course knew Moca and Ako, and had been introduced to Sayo. Tsugumi had met Sayo's parents too. Though neither side knew that the two of them knew each other's secrets.Sayo had arrived early to help Tsugumi set up. It was mainly getting a table into the room, chairs for everyone, and helping Tsugumi get the tea and snacks ready. Sayo had never been big into cooking or snacks, but since they started dating, she had picked up a few things from Tsugumi. There was something rewarding about making things you can eat, and give to others.The others would probably arrive soon. They had said noon, and it was a Sunday. Tsugumi was certain even Moca wouldn't sleep in that long. She had promised she'd be there. Though she was expected to be the last to arrive. Tsugumi felt a little nervous about how this was going to go.Sayo was probably even more nervous. She didn't know the names of anyone coming. Which was her own fault, as she had asked to not be told, just in case something happened, and they didn't show up. She would rather not know who they were if they weren't here. All she knew was that they would be five, including her and Tsugumi. Two of them were Tsugumi's friends (she guessed it was other Afterglow members, even if that would be quite the coincidence), and the last one was a friend of a friend that even Tsugumi didn't know. Since Sayo had also asked to retain her secret until they were all here, she couldn't really complain about someone else wanting the same.There was a knock on the door, and it opened without waiting for a reply. "We're here, Tsugu-chin!"Sayo knew that voice, and she turned to look."Ako-san?""Hikawa-san?""Shirokane-san?""What are you... doing here?" All three asked.* * *"Okay, the first meeting of the GURL club has officially started!" Tsugumi declared.They were seated around a round table. Tsugumi had Moca on her left, then Ako, then Rinko, and finally Sayo back around on her right."The girl club?" Ako asked, sounding confused."Fu fu fu." Tsugumi pulled out a sign she had made. "The GURL club. It's an acronym. Gathering of Unique Reliable Ladies." She looked proud of it."Uh...""Um...""Tsugu~. We are not calling ourselves that~," Moca said in her characteristic slow tone.She had arrived last as expected, but only two minutes past noon. She had stopped by the bakery on the way. Couldn't have a meeting without bread and pastries, after all."Huh?" Tsugumi looked at Moca with a slight expression of surprise."Yeah, it's not good, Tsugu-chin," Ako concurred. "Kinda cringe-worthy."Tsugumi looked at Ako. And one look at Rinko made it clear that there was no support to find there either."H-hey, I worked hard on this," Tsugumi said defensively. "Help me out here, Sayo-san.""They're right, Tsugumi-san. It's not acceptable," Sayo said in her usual blunt tone."Et tu?" Tsugumi couldn't help feeling a little betrayed. She sat down, and put the sign away."I know! We could call it the Super Powers Super Group!" Ako suggested. "Uh... of... dark... of the night... night darkness...""Denied," Sayo said immediately."I think... I'd like Super Powers Association... or SPA for short. It sounds nice," Rinko said. She felt more relaxed since she actually got here."We should call ourselves BUNS~," Moca chimed in with. "Better Under... uh... Natural Circumstances.""Circumstances is spelled with a C, Aoba-san," Sayo pointed out."Hm~? Then why is it pronounced S~?"Sayo sighed. "Because English is a weird language.""Hehe~. I still think we should be BUNS~. We can figure out what it stands for later~. No need to worry about the details~." Moca smiled happily."A-anyway!" Tsugumi decided to try to bring things back on track. "I guess normally this would be where we would introduce ourselves, but we all kinda know each other..."Sayo put her hand on Tsugumi's shoulder. "It can't hurt to do so anyway, Tsugumi-san," she said."Uh, sure!" Tsugumi was grateful for the assurance. "I guess I'll start. I'm Hazawa Tsugumi. My family runs this cafe, and... I play keyboard in Afterglow.""Me next~. I'm Aoba Moca-chan. I really love all sorts of bread~, and I've known Tsugu since she was very little. She's grown so big and Tsugurific, it makes me proud~." It was hard to tell how serious she was being, but at least she looked very cheerful. "Oh, and I play guitar in Afterglow~.""Me, me!" Ako raised her hand. "I'm Udagawa Ako! Dark prince of... uh..." Rinko leaned over, and whispered something in her ear. "The shadow realm! I have the coolest big sister, the cutest girlfriend, and I play drums in the coolest band: Roselia!"Rinko blushed a little. "Um... I'm... Shirokane Rinko... Ako-chan's girlfriend, and... I play the keyboard... in Roselia..." Her voice was soft, but it carried well enough that the others could hear. That hadn't always been the case, but she had gotten more practised at it.Sayo had a small, content smile on her face. "I'm Hikawa Sayo. Guitarist in Roselia, and..." She linked her arm around Tsugumi's. "Tsugumi-san's girlfriend."Tsugumi looked slightly shocked. She hadn't expected Sayo would be the one to announce that. Moca whistled. Rinko looked a little surprised, but then just smiled."Whoa, awesome!" Ako exclaimed. She seemed very excited. "A dark union of super-powered beings."Sayo and Tsugumi looked at each other, remembering that night. It had been quite dark."Uh... kinda," Tsugumi said, and giggled.Ako gave them a confused look."So~, two guitarists, two keyboardists, and one drummer. That's quite the curious band we have~," Moca said. "That aside~, who could have imagined we'd get three members of Roselia here~?""And the other two from Afterglow," Sayo said. "That is quite the coincidence."No one could really argue that.Rinko tugged on Ako's sleeve, and whispered something to her."Oh, yeah! Rin-Rin wants to know what everyone's powers are," Ako said."Uh... right." Tsugumi already knew most of them, but Rinko didn't know. Nor did Sayo, outside of herself and Tsugumi. "I guess I can start again. Though mine is slightly hard to explain properly...""Tsugu can clone herself~," Moca chimed in."Moca-chan! I've told you many times that's not correct!" Tsugumi felt a little annoyed. Sure, maybe that was what it looked like to people, but it wasn't correct. "I guess, for simplification's sake, it's not entirely incorrect either... I can become more of me. But calling any of me clones just isn't correct." Maybe she was being too pedantic, but it felt important to her."Can I... see?" Rinko asked.Tsugumi calmed down, and smiled. "Sure," she said. It sounded like such an innocent request that it was hard to deny. Suddenly a second Tsugumi appeared next to her. They both looked completely identical."Wow..." Rinko was genuinely impressed."They call the main Tsugu-chin number one," Ako added. "It's so cool!" She was clearly the most excited out of everyone here, even though she had seen this many times before."Fu fu fu~," Moca chuckled. "Check this out~." Moca's face and shape shifted, until she also looked Tsugumi. Though her clothes were still her own. "Now I'm number three!" she said in Tsugumi's voice, even mimicking her tone and rhythm of speech perfectly.Both Rinko and Sayo looked surprised. One might even describe Sayo as a little disturbed.The Tsugumis sighed in sync. "Moca-chan can shapeshift. She's pretty good at it, too, even if she only uses it to prank us.""That's not true~," Moca said as she reverted to her usual form. "Sometimes I do it to toy with Ra~n, or to get more of a bun they only sell in limited numbers per person~.""I see..." Sayo shook her head. "And Ako-san?""Huh? I don't have anything to show off, I'm just here to support Rin-Rin," Ako said."That's not true," Rinko said. "I can explain... you see... I can turn invisible. And sometimes... it happens on its own... but Ako-chan can still see me... she always finds me..." Her smile was very affectionate."Uh... yes, but..." Ako hesitated.Tsugumi gasped as Rinko faded away before their very eyes. There was absolutely nothing that betrayed her presence, even when they knew she was there."You can still... see me... right?" Rinko asked, which was a bit eerie to the others in the room.Except for one. "Sure, but...""Ako-chan can always tell it's me, no matter who I look like~," Moca said."And she can somehow always tell whether or not it's number one she's talking to," Tsugumi said as her number two disappeared again. That had never made sense to her, and it still caught her off guard at times, but she had just had to accept it.Rinko became visible again. "So you see... Ako-chan has a power... to see through other people's powers... I think...""B-but...""Interesting..." Sayo was looking at Ako in a new light. "So could you tell I have un- er... powers, Ako-san?" she asked.Ako shook her head. "No. But listen, even if I can see things, that's not really a power...""I think it is," Rinko insisted."Yeah, isn't that kinda like what they call second sight?" Tsugumi had heard about stuff like that."We can call it... hm~... the Gaze of Truth~," Moca suggested.Rinko thought it over. "Dark Gaze of Truth," she appended."Gaze of True Darkness? No, I like Dark Gaze of Truth better~. Good job, Rin-chan~." Moca gave her a thumbs up.Ako looked confused, embarrassed, but also a little happy."So I'm last again," Sayo said, and all eyes in the room settled on her. Suddenly she felt a bit awkward. "I can... fly."Ako's eyes went wide. "Whoa, really?!""Yeah..." Without further prompting, Sayo floated off of her chair, and went up as close to the ceiling as she was comfortable before stretching herself out."Coooooooool. You're so cool, Sayo-san!" Ako nearly jumped out of her chair.Rinko nodded in agreement."She's also super strong," Tsugumi said, unable to contain herself. "Just like one of the superheroes from the movies. She's amazing." The urge to gush was strong."Tsugumi-san..." Sayo was blushing now. She floated back down, and settled into the chair again. "You're exaggerating."Ako was on her feet now. "Can you lift me?" she asked."Uh... yes...""Would you? Please?" Ako clasped her hands together.Sayo shot Tsugumi a quick look of exasperation, and sighed. "Alright, I guess that's fine."Ako zoomed over as Sayo got up. Sayo lifted Ako up, and placed her upon one palm, lifting her as high as she could without bumping her into the ceiling."Wheeeeee!" Ako seemed ecstatic."Careful, Ako-san," Sayo warned. "It's hard to keep you balanced if you move too much.""Um..." Rinko had also made her way over. "Could I too...?"Sayo had to smile a little, even if she felt awkward. "Okay." She carefully put Ako back down, and lifted Rinko up instead. As she was taller, she couldn't go as far up, but she still seemed happy."Moca-chan too~. I want to be lifted with both hands, like a bar over your head~.""Think you can do both me and Rin-Rin at the same time afterwards?"This went on for a little while until everyone settled down again."Ehehe~. I can't wait to tell Ran~. Oh... wait, no, I guess I shouldn't do that~."Tsugumi was about to comment on that, but at least Moca realised it on her own."Hey... do you think there are more like us around here? Maybe even at our schools?" she wondered out loud instead."Considering the five of us are all in such close proximity, it certainly seems possible," Sayo said."It would be nice if we could find them," Tsugumi said."Yeah!" Ako strongly agreed. "But... um... how would we do that?""I don't know...""We can't exactly just start asking around~," Moca pointed out."And it seems like... Ako can only see through powers... when they're active..." Rinko said."Tsugumi-san and I found out each other by accident, but that's not something we can rely on either," Sayo said."Do you think Lisa-nee and Yukina-san have powers?" Ako asked. "Maybe we're a whole super band?""I suppose it's possible, but I wouldn't know how to bring it up," Sayo answered."What about Hina-senpai~?" Moca asked."No." Sayo shook her head. "That's one of the few things I have that she doesn't."And they knew Moca and Tsugumi were the only ones in Afterglow."Has anyone heard anything? Rumours, maybe?" Tsugumi asked.The room went quiet for a minute."If we were really that common, it's strange it hasn't become public~," Moca said. "Maybe the five of us are just lucky~?""Maybe it all gets covered up... or maybe it's because... there's not a lot to do..." Rinko suggested. "If there were actual... crime fighters... that should at least make stories circulate on the net... do you do anything like that... Sayo-san?"Sayo shook her head. "I've always thought my powers were useless, so I haven't tried anything like that. This isn't exactly a crime-ridden area anyway.""True...""Well, there are rumours," Ako said, suddenly seeming more serious. "I look into this stuff a lot. I hope there's more out there, you know? But the rumours are never very detailed, and lacking in proper evidence or corroboration. So you can always find talk about people doing superhuman things, and the occasional report of magical girls, but I've never found anything that could be confirmed. No clear pictures or video. Or if there is a clear picture, it's not a close-up, or the location might be missing. Some of them look obviously faked. I still try to keep track of anything that looks plausible. There's been stuff from this area, but not a lot of it is very credible.""And there's always mixed in talk of other stuff than people with powers. Ghosts, vampires, demons, cryptids, that kind of stuff."No one seemed very surprised. It was hard to take anything you saw online for granted."But maybe..." Tsugumi got an idea again. "Maybe part of what we do as a group might be to investigate some of these things? At least if it's stuff from around here?""It sounds risky..." Sayo said with a hesitant tone."But it could be fun~," Moca said.Ako's eyes lit up. "I... I'll work hard to find something about stuff nearby!" She straightened her back. "And I'll keep my Dark Gaze on Lisa-nee and Yukina-san.""I'll help you, Ako-chan," Rinko said.With that more or less settled, the meeting wrapped up with a bit more small talk. They didn't schedule another meeting right away, deciding that they'd talk about it later.* * *
And now for something different:
"Chisato-chan! Chi... Chisato-chan!""A-Aya-chan? What's the matter? Take a moment to breathe, please. I can barely understand you."Aya took a few deep breaths. "I... I-I think I saw a ghost," she said.Chisato stared at her. "Ghosts aren't real, Aya-chan.""B-b-but vampires are real, s-so why not ghosts?" Aya was stuttering badly."W-well... that's one thing... which doesn't necessarily mean the other..." Chisato hesitated. "What exactly did you see?""I... I was on the way here, when I noticed someone... I only saw her from behind, but..." Aya swallowed. "She had long, black hair, and pale skin, but what made her stick out was the peculiar black and white dress she wore. It made me notice her. She seemed very pretty, but then suddenly she disappeared. Just vanished.""What? Like, vanished into the crowd?""No, she was on her own when it happened. I swear it wasn't anything that passed in front of her, or anything. She faded away as I looked at her!""I'm sure you just imagined it, Aya-chan.""I didn't! I swear!" Aya looked on the verge of tears. "I've been paying attention and looking out for things since I found about you! I'm certain of what I saw!""I... I'm sure there's some logical explanation..." Chisato said, though Aya's intensity made her feel a little nervous too. She didn't like the idea of ghosts."She... she looked kinda familiar... w-w-what if I'm being haunted!?" Aya wailed."Aya-chan, calm down," Chisato said, and gently grabbed Aya's shoulders. Maybe asking her mother wasn't a bad idea. She might know something.