Yui immediately regretted stepping forward and speaking out loud - as she knew she would. However, she was now enough of an adult to realize sometimes it was necessary to put yourself in such uncomfortable situation...and yet.

"W-what?" she said as if pulled back from within the confines of her own wandering mind. Her world focus was taken from the fairy and locked onto Izumi. "What are you s-saying, Nōno-san?! No, of course not! That would be r-ridiculous..." she said, and then lower and lower as kept speaking more for herself then her peers; "...It would make no sense, right? And b-beside, it was so long ago a-and... it wasn't for that long, so... ᵃⁿᵈ ᶦᵗ ʷᵃˢ ᶦⁿ ᵃⁿᵒᵗʰᵉʳ ᵗᵒʷⁿ ᵃⁿʸʷᵃʸ..."

But that is beyond the point! Right? If there is one student at risk - or anyone really - and we may be able to do something about it, then is it not our duty to try? As you all so well said already... isn't it our duty as teachers?!

Yes. The mentally prepared sentence was perfect. it explained Yui's deep down emotions with conviction and certainty. Surely, it would demonstrate, at least, she stood right there beside her colleagues.

"But t-that--" her trembling voice barely made it past that before Izumi answered with a firm 'I'm in.' An incredulous Yui looked at her for a second before composing herself. In truth, Izumi said exactly what Yui wanted - albeit in a much shorter and to the point format. Still, she briefly turned to Amber.

"Thank you, Bianchi-sama!" she said in a short breath after hearing her propose to take her shift. it was probably answered by a thumbs up or something of the sort without Amber ever even looking up. It did not matter that Amber knew exactly nothing of what was happening and being discussed; she suggested to help, so Yui thanked her automatically before turning back to the matter at hand.

As she did so, her heat skipped a beat as she moved in trying to protect the Fairy with her hands from an axe wielding Andrew. "W-wait please n-no!" she said as if her hands would even stop the axe from reaching the fairy. When she opened her eye she was met by Andrew probably giving her a puzzled look before saying his piece. "Oh..."

Just as surprised she turned to Hata, their resident senior and Geography teacher whom Yui respected accordingly.
"A-are you sure?" It wasn't that she didn't want to take the offer, but... more likely, Yui was worried due to Hata's age. Warranted or not.

Alighting on the desk, the fairy took a deep breath. "My name's Lux, and I'm looking for people who can fight back against the Shroud! It's this entity of pure despair and malice, it got sealed away a long time ago, but it wakes up every once in a while. It kidnaps people into these dimensions, Cocoons, and brings out the literal worst in them in the form of monsters! Wraiths! I can't do much against them on my own, but you can, if you become magical girls!"

Aya had been fairly quiet while her co-workers hounded the little fairy with questions. In her mind, she was running down a list of every student in the school she could think of. Had she noticed anything 'off' about them as they walked into school that morning? It was only the first day so it was unlikely that many kids would be struggling with anything. It would have to be someone in a different situation than the average student. A new class representative perhaps? She recalled that Watanabe kid had just been appointed class rep. If stories from parent teachers conferences were to be believed he had some pretty uptight parents too. If there was one thing Aya knew all too well, it was the weight of dealing with the expectations of family.

"Would any of you mind if I went first? Yui?" Aya looked up to see Hata stepping forward. Her instincts kicking in, Aya stepped up and placed a hand on Hata's shoulder.

"Actually I would, Hata. As teachers, it is our job to protect these kids, but it's my job to make sure they're doing well the moment they set foot in this school. If it's really one of our students that's in danger, then I failed in my duty." Aya turned to face Lux and put her hand out. "If what you're saying is true... Lux right? Then I'd like to offer myself up. These kids are mine to protect as their teacher and I'll do ANYTHING to keep them safe" In that moment, every teacher in the room could see the fire burning in Aya's eyes. They knew this side of her personality all too well. The She-Devil was coming out and Heaven help who crossed her...

Emiko and Sakura were both quick to reprimand Kohaku about her comment on children's shows. "I know. I know anyone can enjoy them," she replied, glancing from them back to Lux. "It's just all a lot to take in." Her mind reeled as she tried to imagine the group in outlandish costumes, battling supernatural forces with flashy moves. "But if someone needs protecting - and if, of course, this isn't all just some prank - then I'm in too."

One by one, others accepted, Yui even hinting she'd done this before. Kohaku's eyebrows furrowed. Was Yui serious, or was she in on this prank, if it did indeed turn out to be that? Before Kohaku could ask any questions, Hata offered to risk herself for everyone else's sake, which prompted Aya to insist she'd go in her stead. The chair scraped against the tiles as Kohaku stood. "No... No Aya, you didn't fail," she reassured her, approaching. "Assuming this is real, we couldn't have known about it. Lux? I-I'll go first."

She clenched her fists by her sides, trepidation bubbling through her. She suspected not even magic would be enough to change her terrible luck, but if the worst happened? As much as the thought terrified her, it wasn't like she had a spouse, any children, or really any close family she'd leave behind. And this would help these kids far more than anything else she could do for them.

Lux, who backed away from Andrew and his hatchet, gave a nervous laugh that became a grin of relief as her eyes flicked from person to person. "You will? Oh, thank you! I'll try to make this up to you in any way I can! You alright with this too?" She fluttered over to Aiko. "Wielding power to fight wraiths and..." Her antennae perked right up, and her eyes widened. "Ah! It's stirring! It'll drain the students if we don't do something now! Sorry there's no real time to explain but... Are you all ready?"

Flying to the middle of the room, Lux spread her arms. Kohaku stared down to see an orb of golden light form just beneath her collarbone and meld into her body, filling her with a strange, tingling warmth. Proof that this was no practical joke. A quick look around revealed the same thing happening to every other staff member in the room, except for Andrew.

"Ehh..." Lux gave him an apologetic look. "Seems it really only does work on girls. Quick, get somewhere safe! Everyone else, follow me!"

Kohaku frowned at the plain sweater and pencil skirt she still wore. None of the staff looked any different, and now the warm glow had passed, she didn't feel different either... except for... Her entire body tensed at the sensation of wrongness permeating the area. A chill that made the hairs on the back of her neck stand up. "Can you feel that too?" she asked, her gaze darting around at the others.

The sensation grew stronger as she followed Lux out of the staff room, down the hallway. Colder, emptier. Rubbing her arms, Kohaku shivered. "And I thought Monday mornings brought enough looming dread at the best of times." As she and the others turned a corner, she stopped, rooted in place.

In the middle of the corridor, wisps of black and purple smoke floated in midair. Two girls wandered right past, appearing not to notice as they chatted, although their footsteps visibly flagged and one pinched the bridge of her nose as if sudden fatigue had come over her. "There! The entrance!" Lux called. Kohaku started, thoughts racing as she wondered how to explain Lux to the students, but they ignored the fairy too, trudging away. She'd have questions about how that worked later, but now wasn't the time.

With a deep breath, she gave the others a resolute look. Seeing the effect on those two students just now bolstered her determination to protect them. "When I said I'd go first... I meant it." Heart pounding a steady staccato against her ribcage, she bit her lip and inched forward.

"Please, you've gotta stick together!" Lux squeaked. "It's best if we go in as a group!"

Kohaku glanced at Aya and Hata to make absolutely sure they still wanted to go through with their offer - even if they'd changed their minds, she'd still go on ahead. Someone had to. "Well, here goes nothing." She stepped forward, and the ground tilted beneath her as the hallway blurred and shifted.

---

"Ah!" Kohaku's stomach jerked as if from a sudden fall. She stumbled, regaining her footing on... grass? Scanning her surroundings, she found she had no words for them.

On a weirdness scale of one to ten, calling it an eleven would be an understatement. She stood on a sports field, complete with chalked lines, yet festival stalls in every garish colour imaginable had been haphazardly set up all over it, some of them even piled up on top of each other with broken canopies. The sides of some bore doors for some reason, hanging off of their hinges, signs with school club names taped to them. Streamers ran between them in a tangle, adorned with what looked like report papers or assignments. Light flickered ahead, and Kohaku yelped as she noticed some of the stalls were on fire - yet the flames weren't spreading, confined to the wreckages of cloth and wood. Bars arched up around the field like a cage, silhouetted against a red sky. "This... is a Cocoon? This isn't exactly what I had in mind..."

It looked like a mish-mash of school events gone horribly wrong. Or a class representative's nightmare... Oh no. Realisation struck. A certain student had been acting a little off since becoming class rep. No matter how dreamlike this place was, being able to put a possible identity to the victim made this all the more painfully real.

"Now! Imagine yourself taking on magical form!" Lux flitted above her, taking in the chaos.

Kohaku blinked in surprise. She didn't have to say an incantation, or use a trinket? She just had to think about being a magical girl? Feeling more than a little silly, she closed her eyes and visualised herself transforming. Hopefully it wouldn't be some lengthy, showy sequence, considering there was no time to wast-

It was instantaneous. A glow flared around her, that tingle returning as magic thrummed through her body. Once the light faded, she looked down, eyebrows raising at the maroon-coloured, frilled, beaded minidress she now wore. She wouldn't have looked out of place at a steampunk convention. Grasped in her fist was some kind of spear, shaped like an intricately designed clock hand. "Wha...? How am I supposed to fight in this?"

The getup didn't look at all practical, yet as she took a step, she found her movements oddly light and fluid. So this was being a magical girl. A real live magical girl.

Hata got a nod for her greeting. Amber didn’t go out of her way to talk to anyone, but Hata was someone she at least had respect for. Most of the teachers were younger than Amber, and hadn’t experienced the same pains that she had. This was likely true for Hata as well, but there was an unmistakable air of experience and maturity about her. This was made known when she offered to be the first to take a mystery shift on. Aya and Shinobu did as well, but the difference was Hata was offering out of compassion rather than some desire to become a “beacon of justice” or “protect the kids.” You can’t wish to protect someone without also wishing them into peril.

”Ngh!” Amber placed a hand between her eyes and the light that was shining into her face. ”My eyes work fine, thank you. This prescription isn’t even a month old.” Once Amber’s eyes had adjusted, she turned off her laptop and computer before standing up. That was when Kohaku asked everyone how they felt. ”I suppose I feel a little uneasy.” Amber grumbled the words to herself. Classes were going to start soon, but she doubted that was why everyone else was so nervous. She followed the other teachers out of the room. As the seconds ticked by, the dread in Amber’s chest grew and grew. Until…

”Wow…” Amber squinted her eyes. Someone had unbolted a locker from the wall and placed it in the center of the hallway. Someone must have used a grinder to cut it away from the wall, because it was letting off black smoke. It was amazing that the fire alarms hadn’t gone off yet. ”And we’re supposed to walk into it? Whatever, money’s money.” She took a quick glimpse at everyone near her before swatting Yui in the back of the head. It wasn’t hard, but would have been startling if she wasn’t expecting it. ”Next time you want to shine a light in my eyes, have the courtesy to ask first!” Why did she need to get her vision checked for this? But there wouldn’t be much time for talking. Amber was the next one to step through.

Amber remained deadpan as she scanned her surroundings. ”After seeing the hallway, I can’t say this surprises me.” Amber couldn’t remember what the sports field used to look like, or even if the school had one. It wasn’t involved with what Amber taught and she was never asked to supervise events there.

”Imagine a magical form?” Amber wasn’t sure what sort of happy “whistle while you work” bull crap this was, but if it meant more money she was fine doing it. In case they were going to quiz her on it later it probably helped to just do everything that was asked of her.

When she closed her eyes, a lot of different magical forms came to mind. She could see a pink haired samurai, a wise cat, a spear-wielding druid, a mystical ninja, even a plucky pirate. But everyone was talking about magical girls, so it would probably be best to do something in that vein: a girl that also had magic. It wasn’t like Amber had a lot of time to watch cartoons and didn’t even know what a proper magical girl was. But her sons liked to play tabletop games. She remembered them showing her all the types of characters you could play, and remembered creating her first character. It was an alchemist or something of that nature. They spent a lot of time introducing her to different races, but she didn’t like most of them. They ended up settling on some cute half animal race. The details were a little sketchy. She didn’t even remember what the character’s name was. They had never played a session or anything. There were barely enough hours in the day to sleep, let alone work and support three adults.

Amber opened her eyes.

”Let’s get this over with.”

She took one step forward and disappeared under the backpack that fell on top of her.

Hata's offer to take on the risk was soundly rejected by Aya and Kohaku. Not because they doubted their peer, but because they felt a greater responsibility above everyone else in the school. Likely the two hadn't thought through their response, but it was somewhat disrespectful to brush off everyone else's concerns as lesser. Now wasn't the time to address that issue. Volunteering turned out to be a moot point moments later, as Lux flew to the center of the room and granted everyone present an orb of magic that melded into them. Everyone but Andrew, apparently.

The confusion and mild disappointment at nothing seeming to change shifted as an unnatural chill permeated through the walls."I feel it." She would say in response to Kohaku. Judging by the others, they felt it too. As with everything else, there was little time to dwell on the matter as Lux zipped off to lead them. It felt like everyone was moving at once. Hata would take one step forward before pausing and spinning back around. "I don't think they're going to wait around for the rest of us. I hope you don't mind." She would take hold of Sakura's wheelchair and move them both along to keep pace. As with today, she'd seen her coworker fight with the odd ramp, and she really didn't know where they were ultimately running off to.

Tailing the others, Hata slowed as they neared the swirl of black and purple smoke in the hall. Whatever Lux had done certainly gave them some additional sensory ability that those casually passing by had no awareness of. Kohaku and Amber entered as Lux called for them to go together. Hata wasn't going to force Sakura into the unknown, so she left that decision up to her friend and stepped around and on through.

---

The unsetting movement was instantly overshadowed by the bizarre scene before her. It was really hard to make sense of everything. She never imagined a cocoon being so open. On closer inspection, there were aspects that she recognized. Clearly it was inspired by the school grounds, just a jumbled mess of subjects and events over the years.

Fear and wonderment had to take a slight back seat as Lux instructed them to imagine themselves as a magical girl. Much like Amber, Hata wasn't that familiar with the genre, though she did catch glimpses of them on ads or manga covers in the library. They always seemed so bright and colorful. There was a sudden burst of magic as Hata was engulfed in light. Leaves rose and rushed toward her, the ground shifted beneath her feet, a cooler tumped over and a stream of water splashed against the shrinking figure.


As the light broke, a girl with bushy bright green twin tails, dark completion, and a wavy blue dress jumped back in surprise as a massive backpack fell over with a thump. "Ah!"

Blinking a few times, she noticed two tiny legs sticking out from under the pack. Momentarily it reminded her of The Wizard of Oz when that house landed on the witch. "Oh no!" Comical sight aside, Kami quickly pushed to roll the massive backpack over to keep them from being crushed. With everything going on she wasn't quite sure which of the other teachers this was. This was a teacher right? It had to be. "Are you okay?"

---

Shinobu was taking everything in stride—including the revelation that Yui had been a magical girl before. "Oh yeah, that checks out," she replied to Izumi's question about it. Unbeknownst to everyone, she wasn't buying any of this magical girl stuff for a second. When the light entered her chest and filled her with a warm tingling, she tried to guess at what might actually be happening to her in the real world. She stood frozen as she imagined herself upon an operating table, being given open-heart surgery. It filled her with a sense of dread. Oh, this is what they call a "bad trip," she thought, but didn't say.

Strangely, though, her surroundings didn't change to match the encroaching sense of impending doom. That was weird. In her state of confusion, she ended up abandoning her plan to stay in the room and just followed the others down the hall. According to what the fairy girl was saying, she should have changed into a magical girl by now, right? —but she didn't look any different. Did she have to transform or something? How would that work? As two students appeared down the hall, Shinobu hatched a silly idea. Striking a pose, one hand on her hip and the other making a V sign in front of her eye, she smiled at the girls. "Kira, kira~" she announced with a goofy grin, prompting the girls to snicker. "What's with that?" one asked. "She's doing that substitute teacher positivity thing," the other girl replied, shrugging it off as the pair of them went down the hall, only occasionally glancing back. Despite what they'd said, though, their sudden lethargy after having passed the entrance of the cocoon seemed to recover a bit from her "positivity thing."

"Hmph! Well, I'm sorry for having substitute teacher energy," she quietly sassed back, sticking out her tongue at the students. By the time she was done with these antics, she was almost the last one to enter the cocoon, quickly rushing to catch up to the other teachers. As she walked into the detritus-filled sports field, at first she wondered why she'd have conjured such a scene from her mind—but then, it clicked. This wasn't her "bad trip," it was a student's, and she might even know which one it is! A suddenly serious Shinobu struck a sufficiently serious pose, hand over her heart like she was about to recite an oath. Imagining herself as a magical girl was somewhat difficult for her, what with her whole complex about her age—or rather, just because it was weird. Right.

Shinobu's transformation felt to her like being dropped into a dunk tank. Watching it was like seeing what could only be described as a visual glitch open up in the air above her head and douse her in buckets of ink. When Shinobu opened her eyes, inspecting her "drip," she had an understandably confused expression on her bewitchingly beautiful face. "Not what I expected from a magical girl outfit, to be quite frank. Hey, tell me I haven't fallen to the dark side already! It's too soon for that!" she pleaded with Lux.

---

Izumi saw the orb of light phase into her body, and it was a brief, unusual feeling of warmth...was that it? Most definitely they hadn't transformed yet but even so, she thought that being given the power would have felt like a more monumentous sensation. That said, she was definitely more in tune with the malevolence that saturated the air now. Lux had been telling the truth. Something sinister was going on here and the children were in grave danger.

She followed close behind Lux and Kohaku as they ventured through the corridor, before they stopped. Izumi could see it too; the black and purple smoke. She hadn't made any declarations up to this point because it was clear they were all on the same wavelength, but without a word, Izumi entered the smoke immediately after Kohaku. In her mind, there wasn't time to waste on maintaining any kind of 'entry order'.

The interior was bizarre, but also not as alien or as abstract psychadelic as she'd been preparing for. It was a lot of mundane school scenes abnd items, chaotically and haphazardly fused together. She saw Kohaku transform instantanuously, and by now she'd also been joined by most of the other teachers. Several of them transformed too. This was all wrong. Their transformations were a thematic mishmash with no unity whatsoever, and even the transform times and styles varied though the rest of them had been fast if not instant. Khaku was in a red uniform with a very clear victorian 'clock' motif. Shinobu was in a...black and white art deco pinstripe dress and a wide-brimmed hat? Amber had shrunk a lot and was nowunderneath an oversized rucksack. Hata was suddenly a young girl in a dress, sporting a pair of goggles, and was the most 'magical girl' looking of them all so far by a lot.

Izumi decided to bit the bullet, and try to transform herself. Like Kihaku, her transformation was instant. She looked down at her outfit...a skintight latex bodysuit? What was this, a Super Sentai transformartion? Had Lux got the genre wrong? Instead of her glasses, she was now wearing a visor that was currently tinting the whole world with an aquamarine hue, and an earpiece. She was starting to feel a little self-conscious in an outfit that was so....figure-hugging, but she quickly steeled herself. Kohaku had at least been given a weapon. The rest had not. Did they really have to figure out how their Magical Girl powers were to work now.

"Lux? Yui?" She asked to them both for either to answer. "Do either of you know how we actually use our new powers?"

---

As Aiko watched, all the other teachers volunteered, one after another, even Amber, who didn’t appear to be fully cognizant of what was going on, if her mention of taking Yui’s “hours” was anything to go by. And speaking of Yui, the greenette had seemed to insinuate that she had actually been a magical girl in the past, a potentiality that made Aiko’s head spin even faster then it already was. The sight of Andrew holding an ax didn’t help matters, especially when he began telling Lux that they would be having a chat about “benefits” and “payment plans” once the current crisis had been resolved. Indeed, the almost laughable absurdity and incongruity of the entire situation was getting to be almost too much for the poor music teacher to handle. For the past several years, she had always strived to maintain a harmonious balance in her life, but now that balance was swiftly being shattered apart. Yet, despite all that, there was still the fact that a student was almost certainly in peril, and that piece of knowledge was like a clear and persistent tone, which pierced the ambient cacophony and filled Aiko with renewed determination. Thus, when Lux fluttered up to her and asked if she was okay with becoming a magical girl, the music teacher gave a firm nod.

“Yes,” she declared, holding up a (slightly trembling) clenched fist. “If it will help a student in need, then I’ll gladly do all I can.”

And it seemed that declaration wasn’t made a moment too soon, as an instant later, a panicked Lux announced that “it” was stirring and that they needed to take action immediately if they were to save the imperiled student. Fluttering to the center of the room, the tiny fairy spread her arms wide, sending glowing orbs of light shooting into each of the gathered teachers, with the notable exception of Andrew. Aiko gave voice to a startled gasp as the light entered her body, but to her surprise, she didn’t feel any pain, only a strangely reassuring sensation of tingling warmth. Even more surprising was the fact that, for all practical purposes, she didn’t seem to look or feel any different. Am… Am I really a magical girl now? she wondered, placing a hand over the spot where the glowing orb had entered her chest. Whatever the case, there were clearly more pressing matters to deal with, and when Lux instructed them to follow her, Aiko found herself falling in behind the other teachers.

The moment she stepped foot into the hallway, Aiko’s body tensed up, her skin breaking out in goosebumps as a shiver ran up her spine. Something was here. Something… wrong… “Y-Yes,” Aiko confirmed in a hushed voice when Kohaku asked if anyone else felt the strange, disquieting sensation. The feeling of mounting unease only increased as they proceeded along, even as the temperature seemed to rapidly decrease. Despite this, Kohaku still managed to make a wry quip, one which brought a small smile to Aiko’s face, if only for a moment. Indeed, any sense of amusement or levity vanished completely when the group rounded the next corner and were confronted with a scene straight out of a horror movie.

Swirling wisps of otherworldly smoke had created a small vortex in the middle of the corridor, one which, to Aiko’s astonishment, none of the students passing by seemed to notice. Are we the only ones who know this is here? she wondered. Indeed, the thought of this otherworldly menace being completely invisible to everyone but them only increased the music teacher’s sense of dread. They have no idea of the danger they’re in… Perhaps unsurprisingly, Lux announced that they would need to go inside this unsettling hole in reality, causing Aiko gulp in trepidation. Even so, she wasn’t about to back out now, and, steeling herself, the music teacher stepped up to the swirling portal along with the others.

Kohaku was the first to pass through, and Aiko followed close behind. After all, Lux had strongly advised them to stick together. “I can’t believe I’m doing this…” she whispered, before squeezing her eyes shut and entering the churning abyss.

---

For a moment, Aiko felt a sensation akin to falling, before her unsteady feet settled into something relatively soft. Opening her eyes, she was greeted with a sight seemingly pulled straight out of the delirious depths of a fever dream. Or nightmare… In fact, it reminded her a bit of what her first (and last) time getting high with Kuroko and her bandmates had been like. Still, now was not the time to reminisce about a past best left forgotten. Nor was it the time for fear or confusion, despite how strongly those feelings threatened to overwhelm her. A student was trapped in this deranged place, and the compassionate music teacher refused to let anything prevent her from aiding in their rescue. Thus, when Lux instructed the gathered teachers to imagine themselves taking on their magical forms, Aiko didn’t hesitate.

I need to be stronger, she told herself, closing her eyes and doing her best to will the transformation to take place. I need to bring harmony to all this chaos… Or perhaps… she added, as a sudden realization dawned. Perhaps I can use this chaos to give me the strength I need! Someone’s in danger, and I can’t let anything stand in my way!

A whirlwind of dark energy and crackling lighting enveloped the mousy music teacher, and when it violently burst apart a moment later…



“HELL YEAH!!! WHAT A RUSH!!!” the completely transformed woman shouted exultantly. “Now this is what I’m talkin’ about!” she added with a wild grin, while taking a look at her drastically altered appearance. “Never thought I’d be lookin’ like this again, but holy shit does it feel good!”

Looking over her fellow teachers, she saw that most of them had also transformed. They made for a pretty incongruous band, but that was an advantage as far as the transformed Aiko was concerned. If this place was supposed to be the embodiment of chaos and discord, then they would just have to beat it at its own game!

“Hey! This ain’t no time to be takin’ a nap!” She called down to one of her now far smaller companions who was laying on the grass next to a giant backpack, with another youthful girl keeling beside her. “There are some monsters whose asses need kickin’ and a kid who needs savin’,” she added, even as she conjured a jagged crimson guitar and struck a pose. “So let’s get this show on the road!”

Sakura watched as the ball of light flew inside her. There was a sudden shiver as it felt like all her muscles were contracting at the same time, but she soon went back to normal. Huh. Weird. And then she was off, wheeling herself on the heels of the rest of the faculty.

Still tail-end as they entered the cocoon, Sakura snickered at Lux's instructions. God, could this possibly get any cheesier? Still, she tried to imagine herself as a heroine, fighting evil and protecting people. There was a bright flash and then Sakura stood there, transformed. Lightning crackled around her, and the new magical girl smiled.

Wait. Back up a minute. She stood up?! Realizing what was going on, she took a step forward, and another one. Pure schoolgirl joy erupted from her mouth as she did a little pirouette... and promptly overbalanced and landed on her face. Evidently there were still some bugs to be worked out...

Andrew and Emiko

One by one the other teachers accepted the opportunity that was given to them. As well they should. Helping the students in any way they can was their job after all. Then, Lux flew to the center of the room and spread her arms. Emiko felt a tingling sensation as a golden orb of light formed under her collar bone quickly before it faded. The same thing happened to everyone else… except Andrew. It apparently only worked on girls. Poor guy. That just seemed unfair.

It was hard to read Andrew’s face as the ‘magical blessings’ were handed out and… he didn’t get one. He didn’t even get a ball of light that tried to make contact with him. That… that kind of stung a bit. The fact that Lux went on to say that ‘it only worked on girls’ didn’t exactly make him feel better, since it seemed like she wasn’t all that sure and from his point of view, she didn’t even try.

However, when she told him to go and hide somewhere, that’s when he snapped back just a little. “It is literally my job to help look after these kids. Doesn’t matter if it’s a dangerous animal to some elder deity of darkness and suffering that’s threatening them, I’m not backing down.”y He paused for a moment… before he allowed himself to enter a state of mock, almost comedic anger as he finished “Besides, this is a public school! God has no place inside these walls, neither will this Shroud bullshit!”

Emiko swooned. He’s handsome, and he has morals. What a guy She would never have the nerve to say that out loud though. The group followed Lux out of the staff room, and into the hallway. This should be a normal routine, but something was different. Something felt wrong. Even Kohaku noticed. There were wisps of black and purple smoke that no one but them seemed to notice. That was where they were going.

Andrew followed, but as they started to get closer to… something, he couldn’t help but feel… somewhat uncomfortable. He had tucked the hatchet under his shirt because… well, a teacher walking around with a fire hatchet was going to have questions raised, but despite the presence of both it and the sheath of his knife against his body, there was something that caused the hairs on is neck to stand on end.

Even informed of what was happening, it was still an unnerving sensation. Like walking into a building that something truly horrible had occurred in. As his fellow teachers started to talk about and gesture at something in the hallway, he decided to go with honesty. “...I don’t see anything.”

Emiko raised an eyebrow. “What do you mean you don’t see anything? It’s…” The realization suddenly hit her. She put her hand over her mouth. “Oh… I think I get it now.” Those girls didn’t have magic, and neither did Andrew. It was probably only people with magic that could see these things… “Ok, um… Forgive me for this…” She took Andrew by the hand, and ran towards the source.

He blinked a little as Emiko took his hand. He may have even blushed slightly, even as he squeezed it a little when she started running… and didn’t figure out he needed to start running before the weight difference caught up between them.

Emiko blushed as she crashed into him after her attempt to take him through the portal. “Oh dear… um… Is something wrong?”

Andrew couldn’t help the snort that left him before he answered “S-Sorry. Didn’t catch on quickly enough. On three?”

Emiko nodded her head. “Oh, right right. Um… One… Two… Three!”

With the countdown given, Andrew started to run… through he had to make sure to move a bit slower than Emiko since he didn’t know what he was meant to be running at!

Together, they ran through the purple and black smoke. Soon, the hallway shifted and blurred. It felt like they were falling.

The next thing she became aware of, the scenery had completely changed. They were no longer in the hallway. They were standing on what looked like a sports field. There were festival stalls all over the place, some even stacked on top of each other. The whole place was a mess. Some stalls were literally on fire. The entire field was surrounded by bars as if they were all trapped in a cage, and the sky was red. Emiko looked around in horror. “What is this place?”

Andrew for his part needed a moment to adjust to the situation because… well, as trippy as the trip likely was for the rest of the teachers, his lack of magical insight meant that the experience was… somewhat more intense and sudden. Reaching up to rub his eyes… and his temples due to the small headache that even now was fading, he was effectively blind when the call to try transforming was made.

Lux said something about envisioning a magical form. Emiko was happy to do so. It was better than looking at this hellscape… She closed her eyes and imagined the magical girl transformations she had seen on TV. In a burst of radiant light, Emiko’s transformation begins. Her regular attire dissolves into shimmering, colorful fragments, and a gentle wind swirls around her. Her dark hair changes into rainbow colors. Paint splatters on her turning into her dress that looked like canvas and colorful lines painted on it. Then more paint materialized on her forming her shoes, beret, and the rest of her accessories. Finally, the giant paintbrush appeared in her hands.

She opened her eyes, and they too were rainbow colored. Emiko looks at herself, amused by her transformation. As well as her ability to carry this large paintbrush as if it were light as a feather. She twirled the brush around, and struck a pose.

As the headache of entering this pocket dimension finally subsided, Andrew finally got the chance to have a look around at the place. Sports field… signs of several conflicting events that had been organized to happen at the same time in the same place… fire… “...I think I saw something like this on the news when I was in the States. Only there were more bodies and fire.”

Observation of the area aside, he turned to look at the rest of the teachers and… well, magical girls were happening. Though it was somewhat strange. Not the outfits themselves. Those were completely on magical girl anime brand… but looking from one to the next presented (at least at first glance) a lack of a united theme.

Kohaku (at least it sounded like Kohaku) seemed to have a strong ‘clockwork’ theme to her to the point where she would have been the star of the show at a steampunk convention.

There was a comically large backpack with a pair of legs sticking out from under it that he honestly couldn’t begin to guess the identity of.

The girl with green hair that seemed to have a globe orbiting her seemed to be rolling the backpack over, likely to aid whomever was underneath it. For a moment he didn’t have any idea of who it could be… until she started to talk and his eyes went wide. “Hata?” Well… if the Shroud didn’t kill her, there was a very real chance that pharmaceutical companies would… or maybe lock her in the basement to extract something from her in an attempt to use it as the new secret ingredient of their age care products.

Next was… he was pretty sure she was Shinobu. He wasn’t quite sure, but he could hazard the guess. “Do you feel the urge to make a coat out of the fur of a hundred or so dalmatian puppies?” He asked her jokingly, hoping to get her out of the spiral of possibly being evil before it properly started.

He wasn’t proud to admit it, but… he stared at Izumi. Eyes wide, face very red… she had always been a rather beautiful woman, but her transformation… Well, a skin tight bodysuit really suited her nicely. He looked like he wanted to say something but… in the end he decided to say “...You look nice. I like your robot.” before turning away like a bashful school boy before he shot himself in the foot like an idiot.

The most radical of the changes, outside of possibly Mrs Harper, was Aiko. Honestly, it was more of a mindbend to see what she had transformed into then everything else that had happened so far, the existence of magic and apparently a hidden magical war against a dark god included. She was so… bright yet dark and loud and angry.

…Correction. One of the three most radical transformations. Sakura was… well, currently she was face down on the ground, having lost her balance and fallen over, but she was walking! He was also polite enough to walk over and offer her a hand back up. “...Well, when the pharmaceutical companies show up to abduct Hata for their age care products, at least you’ll be there to keep her company while they do medical research on you.” He… somewhat joked. At least he hoped it was a joke.

Finally, he turned to look at the woman he had come through the… whatever with. Emiko had truly embraced her inner artist and it showed. That was the piece of the puzzle he had been missing, for once he saw her, it fell into place. “...Okay, so apparently your team theme seems to be based around school classes.”

“He’s handsome, he has morals, and he’s smart. You’re husband material!” Emiko said as she winked and blew a kiss at Andrew. After becoming a magical girl, she felt freer and uninhibited. She swung her paintbrush around, and some red paint shot out, that soon became a blast of red energy. Her eyes went wide with excitement. “Well, look at that!”

…Andrew didn’t know what the hell to say in response to that. He was utterly stunned by the compliment. However, after a few moments he retrieved the hatchet he had ‘borrowed’ earlier in order to have it on hand.

All Kohaku could do was stare in awe as, one by one, her colleagues took on their own magical girl transformations. Much more impressive and elaborate ones than her own, no less. "Hata...?" She slowly approached the green-haired, deeply tanned young woman. She could see the vague resemblance in facial structure to the kindly old geography teacher, but that was quite the drastic change - and Hata wasn't the only one who'd de-aged. Miss Harper flipped over the fallen backpack to reveal a younger, smaller Amber. "You're not hurt, are you?" Kohaku asked, bending into a slight crouch, noting the lack of stiffness in her back from night after night hunched over a desk. Magic, it seemed, was the ultimate age care.

Shinobu, decked in an elaborate floral hat and monochrome striped cloak, panicked right away about falling to the dark side. "I doubt anyone with that substitute teacher positivity thing would fall from grace so fast," Kohaku tried to reassure her colleague.

"No need to worry!" Lux confirmed, rather unconvincingly given the fact that they'd all ended up in the middle of a nightmare sequence. "Different magical girls just get different outfits!"

Izumi's costume wasn't exactly standard magical girl fare either, being a skintight sci-fi style bodysuit that brought a blush to Kohaku's face. She averted her eyes, hoping Izumi hadn't noticed, only for her mouth to fall open at the sight of Aiko. It was unmistakeably her - same face, same voice - yet that punk rock getup, with the attitude to match, was not something Kohaku would ever have associated with the mellow music teacher.

Just as radical was Sakura's transformation, lightning sparking around her as she stood. Yes, stood, no wheelchair in sight. With a laugh and a spin, Sakura lost her balance. Before Kohaku could head over, Andrew was on it, helping her up while cracking a joke, albeit a rather unsettling one about pharmaceutical companies. As well as he meant, Kohaku couldn't be sure that was helpful right now.

Close by him stood Emiko, sporting rainbow-coloured hair and eyes, swinging a giant paintbrush. Red paint arced through the air, turning into an energy blast that Kohaku narrowly dodged. "Ah! That's impressive and all, but... Be careful!" She watched as it collided with one of the bizarre stalls, obliterating it in a burst of burning splinters.

"Yes!! You've got this!" Lux, seemingly oblivious to the near-miss, twirled and fist-pumped the air. "Now let's go! As for how you use your powers, you'll have some sense of how they work right away! And this is a good chance to figure out the finer details!"

"But... Wait!" No, she didn't, was all Kohaku could think as she followed Lux through the chaos, her steps strangely fluid despite her less than practical shoes. "Elaborating on that would sure be helpful right now."

She came to an abrupt stop at the sight of a large stage at the end of the field, just like the one in the school hall, only with ragged curtains that opened to reveal... Kohaku stepped back, gripping her spear. A giant doll-like figure, with plastic-looking jointed limbs and a tattered school uniform, hunched over the group, a mountain of stalls piled onto its shoulders as it juggled several fireballs. No, not fireballs - burning items. A large notebook. A soccer ball. A chalkboard eraser. A festival-style lantern. All of which illuminated the unmoving form at the back of the stage, limbs bound in shadow tendrils like a spider's web. He was translucent, as if immaterial and fading, but Kohaku's heart sank as she recognised him right away.

"Watanabe-san..." The name came out in a shaky whisper. Her suspicion had been correct. "Don't you dare hurt Watanabe!"

The wraith, its face cracked and worn away, gave an eerie laugh that juddered through Kohaku's bones. "I'll do what I like for once!" Its voice, however distorted, was clearly Watanabe's. "Do this, do that! I'm sick of living on everyone else's terms! Sick of taking on the weight of the world! Sick of it sick of it sick of it! Ahahahaha!!" His laugh took on a panicked, desperate tone as he flung the blazing notebook at Kohaku.

Snapping back into action, Kohaku pulled out of the way, bringing her free arm up to shield her eyes from the fiery glow - which instantly dimmed. She gaped as the notebook hung there in midair, half-open and completely still. Even the flames no longer flickered, stationary as a film scene on pause, their former brightness now a dull sepia tone. Just as she processed what she'd done, time resumed for the book once more, sending it darting like a shooting star through the mockery of a festival.

It was hard to define what was going through Andrew's head as Lux started to 'heroically' lead the way towards the stage at the edge of the festival. He followed because it seemed like the direction that needed to be traveled, alongside the fact that at least Kohaku was also heading that way.

Seeing the student and the 'wraith' on stage together through... Something clicked in Andrew's head. It didn't click immediately, but as he had more of a chance to take in more of the body of the Wraith and listened to what it had to see... it was like puzzle pieces had just slipped into place. He didn't know this boy since he wasn't in his class, didn't know his history or family... and yet in this moment he could already tell what kind of person he must be like and the struggles that plagued him.

As someone who actively followed anime and media which actively explored mental concepts, this situation was surprisingly understandable to him. But what cemented it was a poem that he remembered listening to on the internet on a day that he needed a bit of encouragement that had stuck with him.

Stepping forward, the hatchet remained in his hand but it was held in a non-threatening manner. Something to be used if things went south but he wanted to try talking first. "...You're the one that... Watanabe?..." He might have glanced towards his fellow teachers turned magical girls to make sure he was getting the name right before rallying "Watanabe sees in the mirror, aren't you? The voice that tells him that he is taking on way to much responsibility, work and stress but whom he doesn't listen to because he is terrified of disappointing others."

Taking a moment to see how the entity or the boy connected to it reacted to being talked to and acknowledged, Andrew decided to continued "I'm Mr Brown. You might not know me that well because you're not in my class. But if you're willing to let me, I can help both of you to ease the weight that is choking the life out of you. Because that is what this whole situation is right now; Self destruction." He took a quick breath before finishing "...Because as amazing as it must feel to destroy something at long last... the weight is still there, isn't it?"

_{@twave@Ponn@Bright_Ops}

The green haired girl would not find it difficult to lift the backpack off of the child underneath. Not because it wasn’t heavy, but because they had the strength to stand up on their own. Though her eyes were still spinning from the vertigo. She likely would have fallen on her back if the green haired girl wasn’t there to stabilize her.

"Thank you for the assistance, geomancer!" She spoke with a tone that seemed more confident than her stature warranted. "I appear to be fine, though I do have difficulty recalling my name. Likely from that tumble I took on my way in here." Or being flattened by her backpack, maybe. "You may refer to me as ‘Cook’ if you must call me anything. Remain by my side if you must, but I shall not hold the party back. So long as my legs are under me I can shoulder any weight."

The bard’s words did not go unheeded by the cook. After her exchange with the geomancer she called out. "I apologize, bard. I shall not fall again unless our quest is completed or I am slain in battle." She bounded after her. The cook’s pack bounced with every step, and being significantly heavier than her, made speeding up and slowing down difficult. It took the cook a moment to reach full speed and keep up with the others. Once they arrived at the monster in the distance, she dug her heels into the ground and skidded to a stop. When she did, she noticed a giant book hovering in front of a party member.

"Wondrous work, Chronomancer! We’ll have this sorted in no time!"

The cook turned their back to the creature and shrugged their backpack off of their shoulders. When it landed, the shockwave could be felt by all the teachers. "Take it down, I will try to keep everyone in the fight." In no time at all, Amber had a cooking station set up. A tiny calderon hung over a campfire next to some alchemic contraption. Her tiny hands were reaching inside every pouch to pull out fruits and vegetables to cook. Nothing was getting peeled or sliced. Once she was satisfied, she drew a ladle to crush down everything with.

"Hmmm?" The cook looked up at Andrew, who was trying to reason with the monster. "Does this really seem like the time to talk to a monster?" She pulled a coin out of a pouch on her person. "Also, your gear is not fitting for an adventurer. Go to the armorer and get outfitted at once!" She flicked the coin to Andrew before minding her stew. But if Andrew caught the coin, he might notice that Watanabe was a lot more interested in him.

The transformed Aiko’s brow rose and her visage couldn’t help but take on a look of puzzlement when the small pink-haired girl bounced up and began acting like a character from some fantasy roleplaying game (not that she had much knowledge of such things, but one of her former bandmates had been a fan).

Damn… That backpack must’ve done one helluva number on ‘er brain case…

For a moment, she tried to figure out just who this amnesiac girl was, before quickly deciding that it didn’t really matter.

Well, whoever she is, at least she’s motivated…

“Glad to hear it!” Aiko told her smaller companion as they raced after the others. “But I ain’t no bard!” she corrected. “I’m a kick ass rocker, though if ya wanna call me somethin’, the name’s Nails!” Despite not using her stage name in nearly ten years, it just felt natural to go by it now.

Soon enough, the group had reached the stage at the end of the field, where both the imperiled student and his monstrous captor waited.

“Holy shit…” she whispered as she came to a stop along with the others. “That’s all kinds of fucked up…” That sentiment was reinforced a moment later when the abomination began speaking in a warped mockery of its victim’s own voice, causing Nails’ grip on her guitar to tighten. However, before an attack could be made, the untransformed Andrew began trying to talk it down…

“What the hell are ya doin’?!” the incredulous rocker snapped, even as she fought to keep her balance in the wake of the shockwave generated by the “cook’s” enormous backpack striking the ground. “Ya can’t reason with a thing like that! ‘Sides, Shinobu’s the therapist ‘ere! An goin’ to some armorer ain’t gonna help, either!” she added, turning to glare down at her pink-haired companion. “Hell, he is the…” Her voice trailed off as various pieces of information clicked into place, like notes in a melody. “Wait…” Earth, time, music, metalworking, cooking? “Are… Are you Amber?!”

Cook, as she introduced herself, was up on her feet and ready to go despite the tumble. The incident had distracted Hata from the immediate and rather drastic changes to herself. However, the confusion of identity made the newly minted girl reflect on herself for just a moment. Her eyes drifted and followed the globe that floated into her vision. "Ah ha!" Things began to click into place and she brightened up. Whether it made any sense to anyone else was another thing. "Yes yes! It's nice to meet you Cook, Nails. You can call me Kami." While she would have liked to stay and chat with all her new old friends, there was a student to save and some of them were already on the move.

Bounding into action, Kami cheerfully skipped her way in the direction of danger. Something clearly had happened to her, but Kami was barely bothered by the changes. The childlike energy only tempered by the concerning circumstance and environment she found herself in. Whose nightmare could this be? That question would soon be answered as she approached a stage. She spotted and heard Watanabe at about the same time. This creature though, it was a twisted mockery of the boy's efforts. Clearly stretched to his limits the Shroud had taken advantage and turned it into this monstrosity.

"You let Watanabe go! You talk like you know what he wants, but he's stronger than that!"

Seeing the flames on the school objects, Kami reaches out and touches a finger to the tropics near the Caribbean. As she draws her finger back, a trail of water gushed from the spot. Pointing at the doll, the stream of water rushed outward and became a torrential swirl of wind and rain intent on putting out the fires.

---

Watching Aiko and Amber behave after their transformations, it was clear that some of them were affecting personality. But she felt the same. There was really no consistency here? Weren't Magical Groups supposed to be a themed unit? She also noticed something else, clicking into place after she saw Sakura standing up; none of the teachers who wore glasses, herself included, needed glasses! So the transformations also had that effect, huh? She lifted her visor just to make sure. Yeah! Crystal clear vision!

She was snapped out of this by Andrew addressing her. “You look nice. I like your robot.” Before the compliment had time to register properly, she was puzzled by the mention of a robot. She looked around. Oh! There was a robot! Hovering right next to her! It immediately took all of her attention as she turned to it and studied it. It was floating in midair, round, with a single....eye? Or at least what kind of looked like an eye at first glance, but there was no lens, either of glass or plastic. This large hole at the center of the robot had to have some other purpose.

She heard something else Andrew said; “Okay, so apparently your team theme seems to be based around school classes.” She looked around, and suddenly everything clicked. History, Geography, Music...Yeah, that worked! So that was the theme! Maybe they were a real Magical Girl team after all!

Lux explained more about their powers, that they should have some sense of intuition when it came to them. Izumi decided to test that out. She let her body do what felt natural. She raised her upturned palm, and a futuristic-looking tablet PC appeared in it. Operating systems, she knew, were only something you could intuit once she knew how they worked. She opened the terminal, and typed '?help'. Suddenly a full list of commands and what they did appeared on screen, as well as the audio commands that she could speak into her headset. She took her time to start reading this carefully as she walked. She noticed that the robot was following her by itself, staying idle by her side.

The rest of the group suddenly stopped, and Izumi had to look up from her tablet to see why. A giant...doll? And it was juggling burning school equipment. Watanabe-san was behind it, unconscious and literally fading from existence. Izumi had seen enough shows to know this meant two things; Either this creature was feeding off Watanabe, or this creature was born of Watanabe's inner darkness. The moment it opened it's mouth, it was clear which one it was. Izumi could tell to some degree that Watanabe-san had a lot on his plate but she had no idea he was trying to suffer in silence to this degree. Did he never realise he could always have talked to a teacher if he was unhappy?

Either way, they needed to defeat that monster to get to him, and for that, Izumi needed to know how her robot and tablet worked, so she hurriedly kept on reading her tablet, as fast as she could. She just needed to know the basics. Time to know the full extent of her abilities was a luxury she did not have.


"Keep it busy! I'll help as soon as I know how my robot works!" she shouted to the group.